Krait book 13b Ten Years After
by slytherinsal
Summary: Ten years after the death of Voldemort there are to be celebrations held, but with Lilith Snape and her friends around, those who would be pompous had better beware. Is cute Chrysogon Rufus as much of a little tick as he sounds? why is Niobe all tears? and did anyone notice a preponderance of teddy bears?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Myrtle's loo was full of people.

One of them was the ghost of Seth Carter, soon to be reborn – it was to be hoped – as Seth Dumbledore; and his little sisters made Albus' daughters by blood too.

The cauldron in which the rebirth was to take place had been prepared; and camp beds set up for Albus and Seth afterwards. There was writing on the cauldron, burnt in with wand-writing, Seth's name and an appropriate chant in Hebrew. Severus was taking no chances; and Lilith's suggestion on this front had been one he had taken seriously. Seth was a name that meant 'substitute'; so he planned to use Finnish naming magic in Hebrew – if, as Krait said, that wasn't too Irish – to make up for Seth's body having been cremated, and they were using as a substitute a bone from an ancestor in the West Indies. The finding of an ancestor had required some ticklish genealogy research – courtesy of David Fraser, Google, and the Utah Mormon web site – and some ticklish locator spells courtesy of David Fraser and Sirius Black.

Candace Carter was to give blood of the family; and little Phyllis wanted to help her brother too, so she was to be blooded in since Seth and Candace would become members of the blood group more or less automatically for taking part in the ceremony. Albus Dumbledore was to be brought in as a full member at last; and his adopted infant son Perceval. It seemed a good opportunity to bring in other members who had been invited; Albert MacMillan and Dobby.

Draco also turned up with three extra people; and Jade recognised one as Clovis Gierek, the boy who had moved into being a friend on the edge of her group in Durmstrang, who had helped with the labour pains of a house elf by wearing voluntarily a cursed item Jade had made. The elf beside him – who had now a tall form – looked like the same elf, allowing for being clean and well fed; and she had an infant with her so that suggested that it was the same elf and the baby still lived. There were however unanswered questions.

The child had red hair, not the blondish hair of German elves; and looked to be half breed; which he had not been when he had been born.

"I figured," said Draco, "That if Lydia could chant Perceval Filius Harry into being truly Albus' son I could do so with Clovis Gierek junior here."

"I freed Tildi like you suggested" said Clovis to Jade "And brought her to England; and I found out just how badly elves in Durmstrang are treated – nothing but straw to sleep on, a communal room, and raped until pregnant when old enough to have a child. And sometimes used by boys in the school too. I was disgusted; and now she has self respect I can see that elves are not by nature as we see them. And Herr Lucius Malfoy has spoken to me on the futility of racism; so I stand as Vissy's father. She" he blushed "She asked if she might name him after me as I had been kind to her; because masters name babies normally. And – well, I couldn't but take an interest in him when I had taken the birth pangs; so….well, Tildi and I are together now, and Draco thought the blood group would protect her and Vissy when I go back to teach."

"Well!" said Jade "I remember muttering to myself that you were deep; that's remarkable Clovis, and I for one will be GLAD to have you for a brother. Vissy better go to Prince Peak or Hogwarts."

"Give the kid a chance to get a few teeth before you assign him a school, Jadie!" laughed Draco.

Lucius had come along; as had Albus' brother Aberforth, by way of back-up to the blood group and, as Lucius said, to make cocoa. Albus and Aberforth had reached a reconciliation over Albus adopting Perceval, though it had led to arguments at first.

The date was the anniversary of Seth's death by suicide. They had but to wait for the time.

"Ready people" said Hermione.

"We have two minutes in hand; must use the loo!" said Krait, diving into a stall.

"Krait! What ARE you like? Couldn't you have gone before you came?" scolded Hermione.

"She's pregnant again" said Jade laconically. "You can't really reckon for when sprogs stick an elbow into your bladder."

"WAY too much information" said Gorbrin.

Sephara and Lynx, also pregnant – more so indeed than Krait – nodded wisely at Jade's words and Hermione sighed. There were sounds of flushing and Krait emerged to wash her hands with a beatific smile.

"Ahhhh, Pisto!" said Jade.

"Flushed with success" added Seagh.

Various people tapped them on the back of the head with two fingers.

And then they were all serious as Hermione began a count down to the initial phase and nodded at Severus.

"Blood up and exchange with new ones" said Severus "and be ready to bleed for Seth on my mark."

Silver knives were plied, or _diffindo_ spells; Albus used spell to cut both Perceval and Phyllis for least pain; Candace insisted on cutting herself. Dobby was wide eyed with excitement and Albert hardly less so! And then they were all joining – and the look on the faces of the new ones showed their wonder as they felt how close the rest now were! Clovis was holding Tildi by the hand with Vissy in the other arm, grinning madly; and she was crying with emotion.

"Severus, mark" said Hermione.

"Fibres of the rope used to hang him" intoned Severus who had stolen it from an evidence locker "Bones of the ancestor, a substitute for the boy named substitute; boomslang skin prepared in salts to aid the transformation; blood of the parents taken unwillingly to give him substance; blood of the new father freely given with love; blood of his sisters, freely given with love to enhance their brother" Krait and Dione lifted the two little girls to drip carefully and solemnly into the cauldron after Albus had emptied a vial of the blood of Mr and Mrs Carter and let his own drip in; "blood of a unicorn freely donated" he went on, emptying the achingly bright silver blood.

The blood red liquid in the cauldron turned silver and Severus relaxed slightly. He went on,

"Blood of his dearest friends and kin of his father freely given" and each filed passed to drip a single drop of blood into the cauldron. "In you hop, Seth" he added; and the ghostly form obediently sank into the liquid "Synchronise heartbeats….." and he started to chant in his harsh chanting voice the mantra on the cauldron, once only as the room filled with the single drum-like beat, his wand leveled and lying against the Peverell resurrection stone that was Krait's heritage to aid the formation of a body since the boy himself had been cremated; then 'Flesh of his new kin, freely given of love beyond love as the sacrifice" he nodded to Albus as he made a single counter-clockwise stir and began chanting again, Krait, Draco, Jade, Lydia, Seagh and Lilith adding counterpoints.

Albus gritted his teeth and reached into the cauldron, biting his mouth at the agony of the boiling liquid as it boiled the flesh from his bones, and the bones crumbled beneath the searing heat of the little hand grasping his; then he was drawing out the little figure of Seth, pulling him into his arms.

Then he was being born towards the camp bed half fainting, Lucius and Aberforth half carrying him as he carried Seth.

Jade and Lydia started chanting again and bright lines flew between Albus and the three Carter children. The girls chanted in Finnish and named each of the three surnamed Dumbledore; and as the bright lines faded with the dying breath of the chant, three pairs of eyes glowed as bright blue as Albus' own.

Aberfoth's own bright blue eyes were wide.

"So THAT's how they did it to Helmut Hesse!" he said half to himself.

"Perceval Filius Harry Dumbledore" corrected Lydia "There is no longer a Helmut Hesse."

Severus had not finished.

Research had revealed that the family had initially come from Benin before their ancestors were slaves in Jamaica; and Severus had gone to the British Museum to steal the hand of an ebony statue from Benin because it had symmetry.

His chant lifted the hand in the air and attached it firmly to Albus' unconscious wrist.

Then he sank to his knees.

Abraxus and Myrtle were crying unashamedly, recalling how Severus had done the same for them.

"You're getting old, Sev" said Hawke, to cover his own emotion over what it had meant for his twin "You took the last one in your stride."

"THAT didn't have the added complication of no bones and hostile parents" said Severus waspishly "I had to break a hatred bond to release him. You don't do that without a small amount of effort you know."

"At least they haven't been executed, it being England" said Jade "Having them dead would have made it hard to begin with, without them hating from THAT side of the veil."

"Pollyanna" said Severus "Lucius; cocoa."

"It's on its way" said Lucius "Here, you deserve the first one."

Severus drank it greedily in one gulp, swearing about how it burnt his mouth after.

The German blood groupers were subdued and impressed; most of the youngsters were just impressed since they did not know enough to realise how impressive the feat had really been; how impossible such a thing ought to be.

Candace and Phyllis were crying and hugging their brother, who was more than half asleep. And Perceval Filius Harry was rather overcome by the occasion and had an accident and had to be changed, dried and pacified.

oOoOo

When Albus came to, he flexed the ebony hand.

"Thank you Severus" he said softly "For Seth; and for this. If you had been unable to replace it, it would still have been a fair trade."

"That's why it was a successful sacrifice" said Severus "Because you were prepared for it not to work. Why Peter Pettigrew's sacrifice was only partially successful; Voldemort had to promise that he would replace the hand before the poor little rat could screw up the courage to sacrifice it. And I swear it was done more in fear than in willing supplication."

"Poor Peter" said Albus softly. "He has come much out of his shell with a daughter to take an interest in."

"And James appreciates that he has been ready to defend the school" said Severus "He will forgive."

"But he can never be a Marauder again nor be part of the group" said Sirius, joining them. "You look terrible Albus; have a cup of cocoa."

"Thank you on both counts" said Albus. "I am NOT getting any younger. I thought I would teach this year, while Seth settles in; then retire to enjoy my children and hand over the reins of Hogwarts to another."

"Had you anyone in mind?" asked Severus "Or will it devolve on Minerva?"

"Minerva is too much a Gryffindor to stop being head of house" said Albus "It's hard, I can tell you! I never fully lost the sense of being rather er, Gryffish at times, as dear Krait used to put it, in that disapproving way of hers! I thought to hand it to David Fraser."

David looked up at his name; he was playing with small children on the floor.

"Sorry Albus? Did you want me?"

Albus gave a weak chuckle.

"Just informing people that when I retire NEXT year, I want you to be headmaster of Hogwarts."

David stared, open mouthed.

"Did I hear that right?" he said "Albus, that's not a joking matter!"

"I wasn't joking" said Albus mildly "I want the school run by someone with drive; someone to lead it and teach its children how to set the world on fire. Who better than a former Triwizard champion? And that you are also going to be the first muggleborn headmaster is by the by."

"Well I hope you'll be as much on hand for advice as the portraits" said David, flustered "Because if the only one I have to give me any kind of concrete advice is Phineas Nigellus, you can think again!"

Albus laughed.

"You don't think much to the others?"

"Armando Dippet…. Hmm, well if I want an idiot I could find some weevil in Hufflepuff" said David "Everard is a Ravenclaw's Ravenclaw; Dilys Derwent would be all right if she didn't FLIRT all the time! I say, that'll take two teachers from Severus!"

"Well you will be losing Assim to a school for poverty stricken wizards and witches in India when Bella's old enough to marry him and leave school with a decent quiver of qualifications, so Ellie can teach comparative magic for you; I'm sure Severus will have enough who have graduated by then to pick a new Comparative Magic teacher from. Hadrian Malfoy can teach care of beasts in Prince Peak" said Albus. "And Ellie could go in once or twice a week perhaps for the comparative magic people in the meantime."

"Oh, that's all right then" said David. "I don't mean to let Severus down, sir, though I must say I'm honoured and taken aback to have you repose such trust in me!"

"And I'd rather see you take over while I'm still alive so those who make gloomy predictions about you being muggleborn have to eat their words and I can say 'told you so'" said Albus.

"That I can believe" said Severus "I don't grudge it David; you can do it. And YOU get to be the one then having to break it to Lilith that she shouldn't be trying to enter the next triwizard when she'll be four years under age."

"I knew there'd be a catch!" said David.

"I also want to establish a precedent" said Albus "I don't think it's healthy to die in harness as it were."

"It isn't healthy to die at all, whatever strange predilections you have regarding leather accoutrements" said Sirius

Several people poked him.

Albus smiled.

"What I meant was, I don't think it is healthy for a school to have its head gently lose grip as he ages; and moreover I don't think it's a good idea for any one head to be at the helm for too long. I've been head for fifty one years; fifty years really is plenty for any one head. I'm glad I was here through the Riddle years, and the settling down of the ministry; their fear of me HAS helped. And with the tenth anniversary of Riddle's death I shall bow out."

"Your career almost marched with his in a bizarre sort of way" said Severus softly "It was when you were first head he came to hide horcruces; when he had first set up the Deatheaters as an organisation. You deserve retirement Albus; deserve to enjoy being a father to your own children, not just to other people's."

"You are my son as much as these in so many ways, Severus" said Albus.

Severus gripped his mentor's hand, his voice to choked to speak.

"You are my TRUE father, Albus" he managed.

oOoOo

And when everyone was recovered there was a big feast for all the group in the Great Hall and the divisions made by age not house; with adults and near adults on one table and those children not actually infants through those of about fifteen on the other. The few Durmstrang youngsters, whose visit had been arranged under the guise of a cultural exchange, and the mixed Prince Peak and Hogwarts youngsters were each surprised to find more similarities than differences between them; and part of the cultural exchange seemed to be a giggling exchange of descriptions of secret passages. Zlatko and Zlatka, Xanthe and Xanthippe were busy discussing Marauding with the Belle Marauders – Assim and Darryl having been dragged onto the junior table for that purpose – with a view to doing it all properly. They were learning a sufficiency of complex jinxes, from what little Jade overheard, for her to be certain that next year at Durmstrang, life would NOT be tedious.

And the younger ones were listening avidly.

"When are we going to establish Marauding in Beauxbatons?" demanded Lilith loudly.

"If it becomes necessary" said Jade "And not until. Now then! Better to establish Marauding in the free school; and when it's been going long enough I expect Mortimer will go back as an old boy and lecture on how to be a flaming nuisance and solve the world's problems and kill dark wizards in your spare time."

Mortimer grinned lazily.

"Oh I'm too busy chatting up Anett" he said. "She and I are going to be teaching school together with Jade and Wulf some day so I might as well chase down the best girl in the world before she finds another live one."

Anett flushed but looked pleased.

"Well, I'm afraid I rather hoped you'd be feeling that way" she said "Because when Von Frettchen proposed to me I told him I already had a boyfriend and that my boyfriend was actually in the same age range as me, not old enough to be my grandfather."

"It'd have been a precocious pair of ancestors to make him your grandfather" said Jade, judiciously "He's forty something. Which would have been fine if you loved him but otherwise is a bit gross."

"Am I your boyfriend?" asked Mortimer.

"Well I should hope so as I've claimed you" giggled Anett "And Von Frettchen all put out because I prefer a part goblin nobody to a duke, ass that he is."

"He doesn't realise that you are discerning, intelligent, and with er, deucedly good taste" said Mortimer, trying to sound like Hawke.

"He doesn't understand, really, how love works, poor fool" said Jade. "One day he'll fall in love and it'll probably be the making of him."

"How many times does that make Lucius made then?" said Lynx.

"Well he's still short a dozen wives or so" quipped Jade.

"I'll bite" said Lynx.

"It'll be awful" warned Fabian.

"But funny" added Senagra "Go on Jade; short a dozen wives?"

"Yes; he needs sixteen" said Jade "Four richer, four poorer, four better and four worse."

Groans preceded bread rolls being thrown at her and the juniors declared virtuously that it was the grown ups having a food fight, not them!

Lucius was among those throwing bread rolls; and had discovered now just which of his children were in the bloodgroup; and that it was four besides Draco; Gorbrin, Erica, Gennar and Nathan. And judging by conversations, Nathan and Gennar were marauders too.

Next year the next set of twins would be starting; Zelinn and Zakala who had been babes of not yet seven when he had adopted them! And Gorbrin in the sixth!

Well, Lucius looked forward to the annual Weevil Fest, as it had become known, when younger siblings of his children's friends and others who had come to their notice would meet each other at a big party before starting school to make friends before even going to school.

After any weddings that Malfoy Manor was hosting.

oOoOo

Narcissa loved organising weddings; and though technically the only one getting married who had any connection to the Malfoys was Lionel Dell – and he not having a proper wedding as he was taking on three girls at once – Malfoy Manor was at the disposal of friends.

Three of the staff at Prince Peak were marrying; Severus' oldest adoptive son Erich Snape Von Strang was marrying his Tala, whose blood ritual had started the whole move towards an injected cure for werewolves; Percy Weasley was marrying Severus' ward, Harmony Bloom; and Lee Nuffield, a technical muggle, was marrying Dimsie Burke who was also by way of being Severus' ward with her father in Azkaban and her mother in St Mungo's in mental denial that unicorn blood could not cure since it was her own retreat from reality.

Naturally Molly was involved in her son's wedding; and she and Narcissa had put their heads together.

The young couples had let them get on with it.

Lionel was to have a ceremony of his own devising to announce his wives; one of whom was Harmony's older sister Melody; one was Mary Anne Green, which made her a Malfoy in-law through her father's second marriage to Morgan, the older sister of Hawke and Abraxus; and the third of whom was Arjelan Gan Nork, who had left school this year and for whom the others had patiently waited.

Lionel was a fully fledged Auror and doing well, according to Draco, and had the flamboyance to carry it off.

His cousin Gregory – known as Grigs – was also marrying Arjelan's other best friend, Cholaka.

There would be some society invitations but this was a largely family affair for a family beyond the comprehension of most of society; because Severus was a brother in ways that were too profound for most to understand, even without being blood-bound to each other.

They had defied Voldemort together.

It tied the families closer than any feelings Lucius had for most of his own relatives; though his sister Honoria was all right; and her granddaughter Drusilla Macmillan got on well enough with Lucius' own offspring and etceteras in the – in what would now be the second.

Lucius stayed out of the wedding organisations; what he enjoyed was dropping barbed comments to such guests as would rise for them.

And he loved the children's parties.

oOoOo

Lionel was amply supported by HIS blood group; and the first of them to marry were proving fruitful. Tamsin Clintock Barnet had baby Thomas on her hip – except when he was being passed around to her bloodkin – and was pregnant again; and Cynner Strong Prince was pregnant and due in November. Tamsin greeted Dudley Dursley cheerily; she was glad that his father was now safely locked up in a mental institution after completely seeming to lose his reason when Dudley's oldest son proved to have magical powers; Vernon Dursley had come roaring up to Grunnings demanding aid from Tamsin's father because Petunia had made a stand and left him when he refused to apologise to small Harry Dursley for calling him an abomination. Tamsin feared for her own magical son and was glad her father had decided to fire Dursley for his intemperate language and behaviour.

He had apparently assaulted a vicar whilst attempting to get the poor man to start a religious crusade against wizards; and Petunia refused to even see him. She was living in a flat hastily created out of wizarding space in Dudley's rooms above the extensive garage.

Dudley's second son, Draco, would be going up to Hogwarts with Thomas and Cynner's baby; they would probably see a lot of each other in the meantime. They would be a year below Hagrid and Alice's daughter Beth; but Hagrid avoided social situations and sent love and an invitation to come up to stay in his cottage any time.

The children would enjoy that when they were older; and the rest would find it more comfortable to stay in Hogsmeade.

Percy had taken Harmony to meet his parents at the end of term; having apprised them of Harmony's and Melody's background, taken away from parents fighting so much that Melody had been badly scarred and only Severus' skill with chanting had cured that.

Molly was effusively kind to Harmony; she felt the poor child must need a mother figure as dear Garjala did. Harmony had always found Krait quite equal to the task of being a mother figure but Percy had warned her that Molly had a need to mother people and so she put up with it. Harmony was a self contained little body; not shy, as many assumed from her usually quiet mien, just quiet. Which meant she asserted herself when Molly asked if it had been hard with so stern a guardian as Severus.

"Severus is a BRICK, Molly!" she said "And far more a father to me than my own; I wish my parents hadn't refused to sign Mel and me away because if they had, Sev and Krait could have been my parents for real! I couldn't ask for better parents you know. I know he does stern and forbidding very well in term time – except if a kid needs a father-figure and is in need of a wuddle and cocoa – but that's only his public face, you know! When he's relaxed he's just such fun, and such a brilliant dad-type of person!"

Molly stared.

"He's always stern and stiff with me" she said.

"Then I guess something has happened that I don't know about that makes him not feel relaxed with you" said Harmony "That he feels you're not as – as convivial as some people for some reason. But weren't you in the Order of the Phoenix with him? I don't know what can have caused it."

"Possibly" said Arthur "It is our fault, Molly, because it was hard to trust Severus when he was spying on Voldemort; because we were afraid he would betray Albus. As it seemed that he had when Albus faked his own death and Severus was head of Hogwarts seemingly under Voldemort."

Harmony stared.

"But Albus is a legilimens without parallel; not trusting Sev is like not trusting HIM! So as well as the terror of spying on Riddle he had mistrust from those he expected to give him the love and support he needed? Yes, that COULD be a cause for him being rather withdrawn!"

Molly flushed.

"He did NOT go out of his way to make it easy to trust him; he was secretive" she said "When Krait came along it was easier to believe he DID mean what he said; Harmony, my dear, they ARE happy together, aren't they? Even though he has MISTRESSES?"

"They are as happy with each other as it is humanly possible for two people to be" said Harmony softly "And with enough love between them that they can afford to share some of it out to the two women who need their love and reassurance. Anyone who has seen the looks they share would know that."

Molly had worried about dear little Krait marrying her grim guardian at first; she had felt easier about Severus seeing the adoration in his eyes when he looked at his tiny wife, but she WAS troubled by the idea of him treating Krait so badly as to have other women! Still, if Harmony had lived with them as effectively a daughter, she should know.

Actually, one reason Severus was formal with Molly was to stop her from trying to organise him; knowing that if once she decided he was family of hers, she would try to look after him.

Being gently henpecked by his wives was one thing; being mothered by Molly was something else entirely.

oOoOo

And the day dawned for the weddings and it rained out of heavy and thunderous skies.

Lucius absently conjured up more marquees.

Molly wailed that it would be a disaster.

Ron giggled that it was probably a judgement of the gods on Lionel trying to do a Lucius and wouldn't it be a hoot if he got hit by a thunderbolt?

Hermione and Molly both smacked him round the back of the head, one each side.

Gorbrin, Erica, Meliandra, Ming, Jazka, Jardak, Albert, Nathan and Gennar chanted up water repelling charms and wandered around smugly outside with the raindrops stopping and bouncing some three feet above their heads. Being smug at wet people was a harmless amusement and irritated enough people to make going to the trouble well worth it.

And when Madam Flyte-Johnston gatecrashed again, they danced up a personal thunderstorm to follow her about; which as it followed her indoors as well did NOT add to her popularity.

"d'you reckon it's going to finish when the rest of the rain does?" asked Gennar who detested the woman as much as Gorbrin did.

Gorbrin shrugged.

"Haven't got a clue" he said "I suppose if it sticks around too long we might have to undo it; unfair to kill the old so-and-so by means of pneumonia and I doubt there are many curse breakers outside our lot who could break it. It'll be fine by this afternoon; if it's still raining on the old biddy, we'll give her long enough to realise and THEN break it – obviously so she knows it only went away because we made it go away."

Gorbrin could be quite implacably vindictive when people had been rude to his mother.

oOoOo

When the skies cleared rather sullenly, and Madam Flyte-Johnson was still being miserably rained on, Gorbrin led out the conspirators, danced around her chanting, and bade her personal cloud depart to join the rest.

"Got the point yet?" he said conversationally to her as she stared. "You are NOT welcome at Malfoy Manor; go away. As normal social usage is apparently pointless since you are incapable of understanding society and its subtle hints, being as you are so very much removed from anything remotely resembling civilised society, I will tell you in words I hope you will understand; every time I see you trespassing I will drop a curse on you, that will make being given your own raincloud seem like a pleasant interlude. You are a vulgar old baggage; and, as a rather wet vulgar old baggage I suggest you go home to get into dry clothes before you catch a cold. Go!"

Madam Flyte Johnston went; she was cold, wet and miserable and the awful goblin that gave himself such airs was besides backed up by well dressed human youths who actually seemed to look to him as a leader!

Ming Chang grinned.

"And don't think he can't touch you when he's at school if you dare be rude to his mum again; because Gorbrin has a long arm" he added.

She fled.

"Uh…. Let's hope she doesn't call that bluff" said Gorbrin "For ritual we'd need some of her hair at least!"

"And Erica can draw a picture of her and change it so her nose grows like she did to Crabbe" said Ming calmly. "Crumbs, Gorbrin mate, we don't need her to know HOW it's done or even which of us; because we all operate as one against such people!"

"Thanks Ming; you DO have good ideas" said Gorbrin.

"Yes; and ISN'T it a shame Darryl's going to Prince Peak to keep out of the limelight; with him on board as well as the rest of us we could have almost rivalled the Marauders!"

"In your dreams, Ming Chang; we're in the sixth now and responsible prefects!" said Gorbrin.

"You always have to spoil things!" grinned Ming.

"And I'm head of house" said Albert "I'm not quite sure why but I do have to take note of that responsibility!"

"You are? Congratulations!" said Gorbrin. "Probably because you're capable and your upper sixth in Hufflepuff are a bit….stodgy. Stoyan Krumm is about the best but he's not what you call Mr Exciting."

"Nor am I" said Albert.

"When I consider how hard you've worked to make a good showing, and bearing in mind you're blood group too I'd say you're pretty exciting" said Gorbrin; grinned and winked "For a Huffer

Albert poked him.

oOoOo

Darryl might have wished to be with his friends but he was staying well away from England; and Mimi was staying with him until term started.

The trial of his brother for casting the killing curse was raising a lot of publicity, because it had come out that it had been an attempt to silence Darryl in case he spoke of remembering his mother killing his father.

The deaths of all of Madam Zabini's husbands were being investigated and there was a lot of speculation in the 'Daily Prophet' even though 'The Wizarding Times' was only reporting facts as they emerged. It would be a long and messy business.

And Mimi would be glad of the support of her group of Marauders to help her not to lose her rag as the Prophet's snide and prurient innuendo was discussed over breakfast.

And the bloodgroup as a whole was refusing to discuss the matter with anyone at the weddings!

Lucius was grumbling rather that this silly business had ousted his own brilliant coup to force a law that nobody might have a position in the ministry of education until they had spent at least a year teaching, that had followed the law suit against the racist Strephon Vaisey who had so insulted Gorbrin when he and Ross had refused to let him onto the train purely on the man's own say so. And quite right too; he could have been anybody! Swearing and using racist language had cost the man his job as well as Lucius having enjoyed himself no end victimising him through the civil courts; and he had used the man's unacceptable behaviour as part of his evidence that ministers of education ought to know one end of a child from another; even as it was required that anyone working in the department of control of magical beasts had to have at least an 'E' grade OWL in the subject. Lucius was currently pushing further that anyone in the office of goblin liaison should have a reference from at least one goblin of good standing in their own community – the reference to be taken up to check that the applicant had not merely bribed a random goblin to give him a reference – and that those in the muggle office should equally have references from muggles. This had depressed Arthur Weasley until Lucius pointed out that with the Casimir Malfoys and sundry other of Ron's friends, Arthur knew a heap of muggles, which had put Arthur right behind Lucius. And poor Darryl's vicissitudes were driving serious issues like important legislation to the back pages of all periodicals except the 'Times'. Utterly ridiculous!

Still, the fact that the changes were happening was the important thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Mort was enjoying himself; the Malfoys were now old friends and he knew his way around Malfoy Manor, and having the chance to show Anett about and introduce her to people felt just grand.

"I shall enjoy looking for old castles with you to make into a school" he said. "Just poking around Germany together!"

"Take your NEWT certificates – in case anyone makes issue of you being part goblin with a wand" said Anett. Mortimer had achieved five 'O' grades in his NEWTs; and was jubilant!

"A good point" said Mortimer, soberly "I say, I know it's an unworthy thought, Anett, but do you think Von Frettchen would be out to get me arrested or er, killed trying to avoid arrest in revenge for you turning him down?"

Anett considered.

"No, I don't think HE would" she said "But there are those who might have; it's not an unworthy thought for you do not know him. I will to him write, however, as a friend; and ask him for German papers for you signed by his hand as he told me he would ever stand my friend."

"Isn't that a little cheeky, turn him down then ask a favour for your boyfriend?" said Mortimer.

"Ah, and what exquisite manners you have!" aid Anett "Yes it is cheeky; and I shall say so in my letter, and tell him also that you objected on such grounds; and then he too will appreciate that I have picked a man with the instincts of a gentleman; and he will be curious; and he will come to get to know you, and then too we might further the cause of goblins in Germany because he finds you more a gentlemen than many pure bred humans."

"You've been learning to manipulate people from Marauders" said Mortimer without rancour. Anett grinned.

"Yes" she agreed.

"Why don't we use the Von Strang place?" said Mortimer, suddenly "If Erich agrees?"

"Jade nominally owns it" said Anett. "Erich would not mind; he doesn't think of himself as Von Strang and the place only has evil associations for him; because I asked him if he minded Jade being named Baronin as Nefrita Von Strang."

"Well why don't we ask her then?" said Mortimer.

oOoOo

Jade smote her forehead.

"Of course!" she said "OBVIOUSLY we use the Von Strang place – if Erich doesn't mind. Erich, do you mind?"

"I think to make it a school is perfect and just right" said Erich. "I will ask for volunteers amongst the elves who would like to return there to serve the school."

"Did you want to teach there? If so you should be headmaster for your experience" said Jade. Erich laughed a harsh laugh.

"Not I! I hate the place; it has only memory-ghosts of my mother and memories of my father's cruelty! Why, if you have a place already, Mort and Anett can get it set up in the next year, converted and made suitable; especially with elf help. You will be able to open NEXT September."

Jade grinned.

"That I shall" she said. "Wulf has agreed to teach DADA; I shall teach Arithmancy. We're still arguing over who should be head; I suggested that he, being older, would receive more respect; he however feels that my record at Durmstrang would give me the greater pull as head. What do you lot think?"

"With the rough crowd you'll get from some cities I'd say an older man with a grim face and a scar would get less discipline problems. You could sort discipline, Jade; but with Wulf as head you may not have to deal with them in the first place because they are less likely to arise." Said Mortimer.

Wulf nodded.

"You have been to a free school when first it opened with rough kids; your opinion I much value" he said. "But Jade is deputy."

"Granted" said Jade "And I'll field idiots from the ministry too."

"You don't know they'll be idiots" said Anett. Jade hooted in derision.

"If they're from a ministry, that fact may be held self evident!" she said. "Well, with a few exceptions in our own; and less of them since the Auror office was separated from the ministry."

oOoOo

Meanwhile Lucius was dealing with a worried young girl.

Stacey Preston approached him and asked if she might have a word.

Lucius took her to his office; Kordach's daughter was not a girl he worried about being alone with. The half goblin girl was stunningly pretty, the more so for being virtually unaware of that fact because her academic record was of more importance to her; as Lucius well knew, since she was in Gorbrin's year. And though she was no high flyer like Gorbrin she worked hard to maintain an 'E' average overall.

"How did the OWLs go?" Lucius asked politely. Stacey brightened slightly.

"I passed Transfiguration, which was always the one that was a question mark" she said "'O' in DADA, Potions AND History, the rest 'E'. Oh please, Mr Malfoy, don't you think it's a waste for me not to do NEWTs?"

"Yes of course it is!" said Lucius "You're a bright girl and a hard worker; Gorbrin said you planned to take four."

"I did – until my mum decided I should get married!" said Stacey resentfully.

Lucius blinked.

"I wasn't aware you had a boyfriend" he said mildly.

"I don't; mum has picked this old codger in the ministry because he's 'nice and steady' and 'will give me security'; just because all she could do was sell her body to dad doesn't mean I can't make a secure career for myself; but she doesn't SEE it that way; thinks respectable marriage should be the pinnacle of my ambitions and that I should be glad any man is prepared to marry an illegitimate half breed!" she was crying.

"Merlin's beard, how very medieval!" said Lucius "Doesn't your father have any say in this?"

Stacey snorted.

"My dad – who is shrewd enough in most things – made a promise to all his women that they should have the say in their girl children's lives; and I HONOUR him that he never breaks a promise, but how could he be so daft?"

"Because shrewd operator and sharp practor that your dad is in the business world I'm afraid he's putty in the hands of women, and as your mum is rather a mercenary piece – sorry but she is – he didn't stand a chance" said Lucius dryly.

"Oh no apology necessary!" said Stacey "I do love my mum – though that's a little strained right now – and she is a mercenary piece. And too stupid to realise that in two years time if I stay at school I could be bringing in more with four NEWTs than a thirty-five year old transport minister's second assistant with seven OWLs and a single NEWT in Muggle Studies that you don't exactly need to be clever to pass! Crumbs, I'VE picked up enough muggle studies to scrape a pass and I never even studied the ruddy subject! He's in transport because he failed the tests to get into the Muggle Relations office; and what does THAT say about him? Arthur Weasley wouldn't have him! And dad hinted to me that as you were a good contact of his, and as I'm at school with your kids you might help me. Hide me, really I mean; because the wedding's set for tomorrow as that's my sixteenth birthday."

"Great snakes!" swore Lucius "And your mum says she doesn't want to sell your body? That sounds like a pretty cold blooded selling of you to me! Listen, my girl, I'm going to take you straight to Albus Dumbledore; because any minor has the right to appeal to their school head for protection from their parents. THEN I sick someone onto your mother – not seriously, you understand, just threatening her a little bit, since you DO love her – pointing out that she is prostituting a minor which is a serious offence because the law COULD be interpreted that way. I'll ask Draco to go; he IS an auror after all, and once you've made a formal complaint to Dumbledore HE becomes your guardian, or one designated by him, until your seventeenth birthday. Kordach was quite right to tell you to come to me; I take it he tacitly supports your desires?"

"Yes sir; he's dead proud of me that I can take NEWTs" said Stacey "And I will be able to pay the school fees in arrears from my own account because dad settled plenty on me only I can't touch it until I'm of age."

"Well that can all be arranged" said Lucius "And nothing to stop Kordach from making a deed of gift to you equal to your school fees for the next two years. Come on; Albus is somewhere in the party enjoying watching the children cast jinxes on my stuffier guests."

oOoOo

Albus was horrified.

"I never taught your mother" he said "So I can't comment on her character; but it seems as though she's cutting of your nose to spite your face – is it deep down a desire to spoil your career because she never had one?"

Stacey shrugged.

"I don't know" she said "I don't think so; I think she's just too limited to realise that I have a chance not only of getting a higher paid job than she realises exists – because to her someone who works in the ministry is the upper classes – but that I also have the chance of making a far better marriage; if I wanted to. I – I don't have a boyfriend exactly, but I sort of hang out with Jordan Christie and Silly Crouch-Jones and Jordan's really nice" she went pink. "And if anyone CARED about such things, he's a connection to the Black family."

"He's also a very able young man who's in line to be an auror" said Albus. "You are taking DADA to NEWT my dear; there's nothing to stop you training, as Silvester Crouch-Jones has considered, if he doesn't get a job in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, to be Jordan's assistant; or as you're also taking History to go for Quaestorial training as his liaison. Or legal secretary in the Auror's office; a highly paid and very responsible job indeed."

Stacey brightened.

"I was thinking vaguely of going for the quaestorium; but that DOES open up my options" she said "And – and if Jordan and I do get together, having a wife who can handle herself against the dark arts means he wouldn't have to worry so much, wouldn't it?"

"Draco and Harry are certainly glad THEIR respective wives can handle themselves" said Lucius "Grace left after OWLs to marry Draco; but she's far more capable than her paper qualifications say. As one might expect of Sev Snape's daughter" he added.

"Oh everyone knows that all Malfoys, in-laws and all are many headed and mutable" said Stacey cheerfully. "I formally ask for your protection, Headmaster; do I go back to school with you? I have no kit; I discovered when mum told me yesterday that I was to marry on my birthday that she had sold it all for secondhand prices; and WELL below value and she took it as HER money too though it's my kit and if it doesn't belong to me, it belongs to dad who bought it."

Lucius sighed.

"Galleon eyed with knut understanding I fear" he said.

"You said it!" said Stacey with feeling. "I can buy it all again; I am well off. But why should I have HAD to? And I'll never get back the notes in the margins!"

"My dear, you may comfort yourself that for NEWTs at least you'll start anew with new textbooks" said Albus "And doubtless the notes in such handy books as ' One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' will be the same as in Gorbrin's; that I have no doubt he'll let you borrow."

"Oh his notes are FAR more comprehensive than mine" said Stacey "And you can tell he's a Malfoy because he argues with books and writes snippy little comments like 'WHY didn't you check the full properties before including this; it isn't hard to find….etc'. but you're right; he's decent and he will let me check up where I probably made notes because he had."

Lucius laughed ruefully.

"And Snapes are as bad if not worse" he said. "There's more Severus Snape then Libatious Borage in Sev's copy of 'Advanced Potion Making'." He smiled at Stacey "It'll be fine" he said. "And glad I am she let you come to the weddings!"

"Dad at least persuaded her that it was an insult to the Malfoys if I did NOT accept the invitation" said Stacey.

"And THAT explains why he asked me specifically to send you one" said Lucius. "Your father's a good man; I'm glad he's a friend of mine. But I wish he'd warned me! Still, I suppose that was covered by any promises your mother extracted."

"Probably" said Stacy glumly "She's awfully clever about being dead stupid."

"I shall send her a formal warning that you have asked me for protection" said Albus "And a formal notice to the ministry also and a suggestion that they check out this supposed husband of yours; because a man who will marry a girl he has never met who is only just of legal age to wed is a man who, in my mind, bears investigation. One wonders if he plans to supplement his income in some way."

"He'd be a fool to pimp the daughter of Kordach, surely?" said Stacey, understanding what Dumbledore had not said.

"What if he's unaware who your father is?" said Lucius "Because your mother neglected to tell him – pretty girl who's illegitimate and half goblin; the sort that until Harry and Draco started taking things personally nobody cared about. Or alternatively, he wants an IN with your father and expects a father in law who has fingers in many pies to bail him out of some debt or other. Neither of which scenario is flattering to you. Also, because you ARE half goblin you are small and slight; and maybe he hankers after children in his bed and sees you as a legal way to bed someone who he can pretend is younger."

"YUK!" said Stacey. "Well, I must say, I thought the wedding dress was a little….. babydoll."

"DEFINITELY we need to sick aurors on him" said Lucius. "I'll sort that unofficially, Albus, while you write formal letters."

"Thank you Lucius; and you might, too, find a way to let Kordach know" said Albus.

"Don't tell him the guy's a pervert – if he is – until he's locked away; dad would maim him and I do NOT want my dad in Azkaban on account of my mum being a grade 'O' eejit" said Stacey.

"I take your point" said Lucius. "I'll just tell him that you felt seeking asylum with your school seemed a good option."

oOoOo

It may be noted that when Draco, Harry, Clovis Gierek and Dobby burst in on Albert Jardine, the minister's second assistant, they discovered inappropriate pictures of very young girls; and when Draco dropped into conversation that the man had made a mistake picking on a friend of his own little brother – even if he was brave enough to pick on the daughter of Kordach – Jardine almost passed out.

He had been unaware that Stacey had any father present in her background, let alone one of such notoriety.

He was so eager to avoid any retribution from Kordach he coughed without any need for legilimensy so he might be safe in Azkaban. It was sordid enough; he had never broken the law in terms of deeds, but his pictures were certainly unsavoury. And he had chosen young looking prostitutes to go with. Draco and Harry noted the names of the pimps who provided them. They would get a warning if nothing more; and careful checks on how old their girls really were. Jardine had seen Stacey out with her mother; recognised that she was half goblin; and approached Ms Preston with a proposition.

When the aurors burst in on Ms Preston to investigate her as a conspirator to prostitute a minor they discovered that she had no idea what they were talking about; and that indeed she had believed that she was acting in Stacey's best interests, having very little idea of what a clever witch with qualifications might actually achieve; and was genuinely shocked to hear Draco describe Jardine as a low down no-hoper well below the expectations of a clever girl like Stacey who would be able to out-earn him even with her current OWLs as a clerk-in-training in the Quaestorium.

They left her a well-frightened and perhaps better informed woman, wondering just how much she had lost.

As it turned out this was almost everything.

Kordach DID find out that Jardine had been arrested; and Stacey's mother had to endure him raging at her too, that her idea of caring for their daughter was to sell her to a pervert because she had the soul of a madam.

For Stacey's sake, Kordach promised to house and give a stipend to his one time mistress; but the care he gave to his ex lovers was, as he pointed out, dependant on their good care of his offspring; and she had broken her side of the contract. Ms Preston found herself in a one room apartment with enough income to keep her well enough but without any of the luxuries she had previously enjoyed. And she had nobody to blame but herself; because as Kordach said, nobody arranges a marriage for their child to someone that they have not checked the said offspring at least gets on well with; not in this day and age. And one also checks their background out and asks oneself why they should want to marry a girl they have never met

oOoOo

Back at Malfoy Manor, would-be weevils were also in the background; and Lilith and Sextus lay in wait for, and pounced upon the child with a riot of golden curls.

"You HAVE to be Chrysogon Rufus" said Lilith.

"Yes I do; it's in my mum's contract with the publishers" said the child calmly.

The two young marauders exchanged a look.

"That has to take twelve out of ten on the scale of cool answers" said Sextus, grudgingly.

"You don't look like you want my autograph; and I think you're too young to hold me to ransom" said Chrysogon Rufus "May I ask what you did want?"

"Look here, young Lockhart" said Lilith deciding to be both formal and up front "We've had trouble at school with Amos Leroy who thought he was something better than anyone for being famous; and we wanted to check out you weren't a ghastly 'I-am' before you got to school; and to drop some advice about losing the curls if you don't want to be teased."

The child shrugged.

"I heard about the 'child singing sensation' on the news" he said "Though I guess not all of it came out; but I guess I shall have to be teased. I've got about two more years tops I can pull in the loot on cute power; and my curls are worth thousands of galleons a year to mum and me, so if people don't like me for me and care about the curls I guess they're just shallow gits that I wouldn't want to know anyway."

They exchanged looks again.

"He'll do" said Sextus and held out a hand. Lilith followed suit.

Chrysogon Rufus shook them.

"See, Mad Lockhart – Amadeo to his doting mum – said you ran screaming when he tried to persuade you to get muddy and have fun some years back and he was afraid you were mimsy" said Lilith "But in fairness, he IS much bigger than you and it might have looked like he was trying to bully you."

The boy shrugged.

"I don't even recall the incident; sorry" he said "I know my mum doesn't get on well with Amadeo's mother; she says she's a silly piece."

"Well that's truth" said Lilith "She worships her darling's golden curls; he used to cut them off on the train and have my sister regrow them for him when they were going home for the hols. Your mum isn't silly about you then? 'cos that's what made Amos Leroy such a little tick, everyone telling him the sun shone out of his bottom until he believed it."

"My mum loves me" said Chrysogon Rufus "But if you mean am I a little monster who can get away with everything, no I'm not; I'm too big to spank but I'm not too big to be grounded."

"I think I like your mum" said Lilith "I didn't think I was going to; her poetry's a bit sickly."

"Yes; she wrote a few because she was strapped for cash – my father is Amadeo Lockhart SENIOR and he's married with great grandchildren and he never took any notice of mum and me until her poems got to be famous – and when I was about six, she sat me down and asked how I felt about cynically exploiting the public by not cutting the curls and sitting on the laps of people who I didn't like and smiling at them so we could have a better lifestyle. And as I was the man of the house I sort of thought it behoved me to do what I could to support my mum. So that's what I do; and I intend to do so for as long as I can" he added.

"You're a man, kid" said Sextus admiringly "It takes guts to be cute when you don't much like it I guess."

"We can help actually" said Lilith "We can write snippets in parody of what happens in lessons and Chrys here – I am NOT going to call you Chrysogon Rufus; CR perhaps if you like it better – can send them back for his mum to take stuff from."

"Chrys? I like that" said Chrys.

"Hold on young Snape" said Sextus "If we write stuff and he profits, where does that leave those of us who are dirt poor?"

"Crumbs, Sec, you're going to marry me when we grow up, aren't you?" said Lilith "And I'm loathly rich! Besides, all Marauders hold property pretty much in common anyway even if you don't want to marry me one day."

"You're all right kid" said Sextus

"What's Marauders?" asked Chrys.

"We have to be invited" said Lilith "And to be invited we have to form a gang that does harmless mischief and helps people out; because we swear to protect and serve. And the mischief trains us to deal with dark wizards when we grow up."

Sextus chuckled.

"Can't you just see how flummoxed some gang of crooks would be to be beaten up and nicked by Chrysogon Rufus all golden curls and all if he becomes an Auror?" he said.

Lilith gave a gurgle of laughter.

"Nice picture!" she said.

Chrys grinned.

"I'll have shed the curls by then" he said "I don't know if I'm a high enough flyer to be an auror; I'm a bit of a dunce with Arithmancy, what little I know. But I guess that's as worthy an ambition as any! How do I get to start Marauding?"

"We introduce you to some likely types who might want to maraud too" said Lilith "WE are lordly Warts; second years. YOU are but a weevil, here for Lucius' weevil fest. But we know ALL the weevils here; so be guided by us o best beloved."

"Kipling" said Chrys.

"Crumbs, you really WILL do" said Lilith. "Come and meet Purnima Zanam and Seth Dumbledore for starters!"

Purnima and Seth were of course blood group; Purnima, as Assim Khan's ward having been blooded in an unscheduled fashion by Bella when first the child had been rescued from the streets of Delhi. Seth had every intention of Marauding; Marauders after all had arranged the new life he and his sisters enjoyed with their new wonderful father, Albus Dumbledore. Hasibul Pradhan, Assim's nephew, was also hanging around with Purnima.

"Veronica Crouch" said Lilith "SHE'll maraud; she's been reared alongside the Black-Weasley Marauders."

"Did someone take my name in vain?" said a girl with red blonde hair.

"Yes, did you want to maraud, Veronica?" said Lilith.

"Obviously; I want to be like the New Marauders who rescued me; and my foster siblings too" said Veronica "Because Lynx and Leo are dead cool. Almost as cool as Kinat; 'cos it was him saved my life when that derelict house came down on top of me."

Lilith grinned.

She was pretty certain Kinat had lost his heart to the small child who had clung so trustingly to him; and was waiting for her to grow up. It would put a few cats among a few pigeons; Veronica Crouch was one of the few pure bred witches left in England; for her to marry a goblin would upset a lot of people!

But NOT amongst those who counted.

"Well, here's some other weevils with similar ambition" said Lilith "Seth, Purnima, Hasibul – I presume; his sister Marauds – Chrys. Have fun plotting!" and she went off with Sextus leaving the group to get to know each other.

oOoOo

"Well" said Purnima to Veronica "You and I both have the distinction of having been rescued by Marauders; I was rescued by my now guardian together with two of the Belle Marauders. Any advance on that?"

"What did they rescue you from?" asked Veronica.

Purnima gulped.

"If we're likely to maraud together you need to know; and if you're my friends you'll be nice about it" she said firmly. Purnima knew too that nobody would get to be a marauder who rejected one of the blood group. "When I was orphaned this big boy forced me to be a street whore."

"But you're only a little girl now!" said Chrys.

"Innocent poppet" said Veronica equably. "There are men out there with nasty and peculiar tastes. My story's TAME beside that; you're cool to have coped Purnima!"

Chrys flushed.

"I have been sheltered" he said with dignity "And I wasn't questioning your word; I – I just didn't see how… why… well, I've never come across it. Wouldn't it HURT?"

"Oh yes" said Purnima "It hurts. When I grow up I'm going to hunt down and kill people like that."

"Me too" said Hasibul "Some of the other kids who uncle Assim rescued at the same time are being raised in our household; they're muggles so they can be trained as household servants. And there's a boy there too whose bottom was used by men who like boys for sex. Such people are not fit to be allowed to live!"

"He's used to servants" said Purnima of Hasibul "He was raised in a big marble palace with a zillion servants, only their servants are heaps more important and rich than the ordinary people who live and farm in the valley."

"But I have learned about life through this" said Hasibul "And I know I must use my abilities to do what is right. I'm also a Rakshasa."

"A what?" asked Chrys.

"Some people call rakshasa the Indian Weretiger" said Seth, pleased that he knew from listening to the homework of Lilith's group "It's not quite accurate; the rakshasa has to spend eight hours of every day in tiger form or be ill, but doesn't lose his intellect like werewolves. And you can speak, can't you Hasibul? I know Jayashree a little" he added.

"My sister" said Hasibul for the enlightenment of the others "Yes; that is so. My uncle, Assim Khan, teaches in Hogwarts and has adopted U-may, who's a Marauder I think, and Purnima. My uncle is a grown up Marauder like some other teachers."

"I say, Hasibul mate, if he could live in a palace, why does he teach?" asked Chrys.

"'Cos he says being a prince is pretty boring and there's never a dull moment at Hogwarts" said Hasibul. "Purnima kinda covered my life story I guess! What about you?"

"I'm afraid I'm Chrysogon Rufus" said Chrys "And the hair earns me plenty so I'm not cutting it 'cos my mum got seduced and dumped by a dirty old man who likes to pat me on the head and call me 'my boy' now I'm famous. I don't like him much. Mum does well with the poems and stories and they sell well; so that makes them great literature in terms of what's written in her bank book."

"That's cool" said Veronica. "I'm the daughter of a whore; she's dead so nothing can hurt her any more. She was procured by an elf for one Barty Crouch Junior because she was pure blooded and that counted for him. He's the one who infiltrated Hogwarts disguised as Alastor Moody to try to do something horrid to Harry Potter in the Triwizard he won with Cedric Diggory. So I had a rotten father too. But I've been fostered by Septimus and Cymbellina Black-Weasley because Auntie Cym is as close a relation as I have, being a Crouch before she married, and they're great. I lived on my own for several months after mummy died; I was about seven and I lived out of dustbins. Then I went to sleep in an empty house and they started demolishing it around me; and when they heard me cry out the New Marauders – Kinat and Abraxus and Hawke Malfoy and Rom Snape – rescued me, and Kinat crawled in under the rubble."

"That's well brave" said Seth. "Me now I suppose. I've got a pretty unusual story; even by the standards of the rest of you!" he said "My original parents were so hacked off by me having magical powers they brainwashed me into hanging myself."

"You got rescued in the nick of time?" asked Veronica. Seth shook his head.

"I don't think I'd talk about this if you weren't dead keen to be marauders" he said "Because I was a ghost for a year; and – and Professor Dumbledore – he's now my new dad, and my sisters, because they ran away – and the other marauders did a ceremony and they BUILT me a new body; and that's why Dad Albus has a wooden hand; because he sacrificed it for me. And I have his eyes now too" he added "And so do the girls; we did have brown eyes before!"

There was a long silence.

"Straight up?" asked Chrys.

"Straight up" said Seth.

"He DOES have Professor Dumbledore's eyes and I HAVE seen he has a black shiny hand" said Veronica. "And it HAS been done before."

"And Uncle Assim did say he had to go to a big ceremony to help a kid who'd had something awful happen" said Hasibul.

"And I was there and part of his new body is made from blood I gave like everyone else did" said Purnima quietly. "He's not pulling any fantasy, people; it happened."

"Sorry" said Chrys "It – well, it sounds fantastic!" he turned to Veronica "Done before?"

"Yes; Abraxus Malfoy gave his hand for a little girl ghost his age at Hogwarts; she's Madam Myrtle Malfoy" said Veronica "I get to hear about things like that from Lynx and Leo; and sometimes Kinat comes to visit" she added. "And I reckon we have the weirdest group of backgrounds EVER in marauding history so we'd jolly well better get them to accept us!"

"We can start by helping the kid called Walter Crabbe" said Purnima "He was a bully because he got his head turned inside out by a cursed book; he wasn't expelled but was sent to St Mungo's out of my foster sister's year; U-May is in the third this year. And he's coming in two years below his age and my honoured father says he'll need to be helped."

"Well let's go and help him!" said Veronica.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Walter Crabbe had been a little suspicious that he had been invited to this children's party by Lucius; but had gone anyway. As his parents said it WAS an honour to be invited to Malfoy Manor.

Lucius had greeted him kindly.

"I am sure you'll meet with kindness and understanding at school" he said "My son Nathan is glad he was right that your apparent bad behaviour wasn't your fault. And thanks to Severus Snape and your brother Victor, St Mungo's were able to help."

"I don't understand sir" said Walter.

"Oh, weren't you told? Sev Snape found a book similar to the one that harmed you, poking around Borgin and Burke's to see what needed destroying; and Victor volunteered to read it to see if it was in any way similar to the one you had. And he was young enough that it started whispering to him too" he added grimly "Severus reckoned he must have a really strong will power to TALK about it to him; and then he had to do a quick burst of curse breaking. Victor wanted you to have a whole new start at Prince Peak, you know; away from any kids who knew you, in case any were nasty to you. And where he could look out for you. But your parents were adamant that Crabbes went to Hogwarts."

Tears swam into Walter's eyes.

"After how rotten I was to him, Victor cares?"

"You have quite a brother, my lad" said Lucius "He's here incidentally."

Victor and Walter had a long reunion; the brief visits to St Mungos could never be satisfactory, for there were always nurses, and often their own parents too, making Victor feel unwelcome.

"I wish I was going to Prince Peak with you" said Walter "I – I don't know what to say to people!"

"I'd let them make the first move" said Victor "The decent ones will either say hello deliberately or treat you like nothing's happened; and if any say anything nasty, stare at them fishily like a Malfoy and say something like 'that was in a previous life; I don't recall much about being cursed' so they're put in the wrong."

"Thanks" said Walter. "I say, what do YOU think of having goblins and elves at school?"

"I think people who are clever enough ought to have the opportunity to learn all they can" said Victor "And there are humans who are more sub human than ruddy trolls; and elves and goblins noble enough to bleed for Harry Potter. Y'know, people are people; take them as you find them."

"All right; I'll do my best" said Walter seriously. "I want to live that first term down. And – and the hurting of that beggar kid because I could. They've helped a lot in St Mungo's; Victor, why does dad say that I shouldn't worry about that?"

"Because, laddie, our father was brought up badly in the Voldemort years believing firmly that might makes right" said Victor "And, you know, I do wonder if mum and dad read that book to you; and any rubbed off a bit on them even though they're grown ups. Look, you enjoy school; and if they make you uncomfortable, arrange with Professor Dumbledore – or Professor Fraser when Albus retires – to take you into care and assign you me as your guardian. I'll take care of you."

"Professor Dumbledore's retiring?"

"Not 'til next year; but it's a bit of a secret yet" said Victor "You'll like the new head though; David Fraser is a Triwizard champion, one time head boy of Hogwarts and a fine man. He's also an international Quidditch referee!"

Walter loved quidditch so that got him interested!

oOoOo

After speaking with Victor, Walter was approached by Nathan Malfoy, U-may Naga, the girl he had tried to bully, and Isambard Cooper who had seen his torturing of the child in Diagon Alley. There were a selection of others with them, Walter tried not to look scared. Nathan thrust out a hand.

"Glad you're back and cured old man" he said "We'd like to start over; and if you have any trouble, you come to us, see? We're Marauders now us six and so we'll sort out any shit you get into if anyone makes any trouble."

"Thanks Malfoy" said Walter. "I say, can I ask something?"

"Sure" said Nathan.

"Do you REALLY like having more than one mum and not mind?" asked Walter.

Nathan laughed.

"It's tedious if I'm trying to sneak past them hiding the fact that I'm unnecessarily wet and muddy from some er, excursion" he said "Though I'm MORE likely to be caught by an elf like Lala – she was nurse to dad and all of us and she even scolds him at times – but if I've caught a cold from such exploits, it's nice to be pampered with lots of mums to see if I want anything. And there's quite a lot of us you know to spread them over! Because there's Ian and his siblings who are our cousins by rights who are adopted, and Gorbrin's long family with two sets of twins, and Malfoys seem good at getting twins too! I like having loads of brothers and sisters and I love all my mums. Full enough answer?"

"Reckon you're lucky then" said Walter "Because I don't think I know my parents very well."

"Hey, that could just be because you've been in hospital so long – and you've changed by getting well" said Nathan "Give it time; they must love you, right? And that's all that matters!"

Walter nodded dubiously.

He hoped it was.

oOoOo

The other weevils duly arrived; Walter having discovered he had been invited a little early; and five new kids, two girls and three boys approached him.

"Hello; Walter?" said a girl with red hair.

"That's me" said Walter cautiously.

"We know about the book and we are here to give you support" said a dark skinned girl "And to help you work hard to move up a year or two if that is what you want. Y'know, it's what this sort of party is for; to make friends and influenza people. So that's what we're here for; because we've all got shit in OUR pasts that is unpalatable so we know that living with it is not comfortable."

"Actually I have got nothing but luxury and soft living in my past but I have talked a jolly lot to those who have bad pasts" said Hasibul. "And my family has enough enemies that I might have ended up with such a book, goodness me yes!"

Purnima kicked him.

"Stop doing the comic story Indian, Haz" she said "Your English is impeccable."

"But not when overcome by emotion and thought of what it might be like" said Hasibul.

"My honoured cousin has an overactive imagination" said Purnima.

"I – I think it's decent of you to care to imagine it" said Walter. "You think you're normal, you know; and that everyone else is not important, for one thing; and when they make reasonable suggestions of how to behave, you know they're wrong because they are lesser beings. It's like living in a world where half-wits who should be guided and ruled and punished by you are trying to be insolent and take away your own powerful princely rights. And – and when you wake out of it because the curse is broken, it – it's like you realise that the princely things you thought you were doing actually make you the sub human one and you feel sick and ashamed and horrified and there's nothing to be done to put right wrongs; and you have to live with it forever that you've been awful!"

Two little girls put their arms around him.

"And I feel like that about what was done to me" said Purnima "Even though, like you, I know it wasn't my fault. One day I'll tell you."

"Would you like to do something towards putting it right, Walter?" said Chrys.

"Merlin, YES!" said Walter.

"Then join with us; we're hoping to be Marauders if we can get chosen" said Chrys "And we swear to protect and serve and to get into mischief and use what we learn from that to fight dark wizards; and I guess going after the sort of people who wrote that book constitute dark wizards all right!" Purnima had explained to the others what had happened to Walter so they were prepared.

"Nathan Malfoy and his friends – they're Marauders" said Walter "He said so."

"Yes; my foster sister is part of that group, U-May Naga" said Purnima.

"She turned into a snake and bit me" said Walter. "When I was last at Hogwarts."

"She's a snake animagus" said Purnima "How cool is that? I think I want to be a tiger animagus because my foster father is a Rakshasa like Hasibul here."

They all repeated their life stories and Walter stared.

"I guess that all makes my story seem pretty tame, and me full of self pity a bit of a drip" he said.

"Not hardly" scoffed Purnima "I've felt dirty because of what happened to me; but I guess you've had your mind – no, your SOUL raped. It's much the same. We need to stick together us, even if we never get chosen to maraud; because we should right wrongs not just brood on the wrongs done to us. It's up to us to use the bad things as a means to know how to help others, to take our anger and make it constructive."

"Yes; I see that" said Walter "I – I want to share that I am angry with my parents for not noticing that I was a monster. Or pretending that it didn't matter; I don't know which. My brother thinks they had the wrong upbringing; but I can't help blaming them a little that I got so old before it was found out. The doctors in St Mungos said it should have been sorted years ago" he added.

"Some of us are lucky to have great parents" said Chrys "Me and Haz; and as foster parents now, the rest of them. I guess if you're one of us, I heard another Marauder say that all Marauders hold property in common. I guess that means we'll share our parents with you; and if you can't settle, take turns to have you for part at least of each holiday."

"Would you? That is awfully decent of you" said Walter. "I'd like to Maraud. I want to GET creeps that set up such traps for little kids."

"Well as we've all had weird stuff happen, when we choose a Marauder group name, let's be the weird marauders" said Seth.

It was voted a great idea!

oOoOo

The would-be weird marauders went to check out the other weevils.

Some of them already knew the Malfoy-Tobak twins who were to be starting this year and introduced them to Seth, Walter and Chrys; together with Odiza gan Torlo, a sister of Gorbrin's friend Jardak and best friend of Zakala Malfoy-Tobak. They had also gathered up Annette Blake, the half elf sister of others already in the school and loudly ready to stand up for elven rights without making a pratt of herself like her half sister Michelle Makepeace. Her half brother Colin Makepeace was also there shrugging over what they had heard of Michelle's bad attitude and declaring that nothing became sisters so much as the ignoring of them. They had also been introduced to Dionysia Bulstrode, a cousin of Gorbrin's girlfriend Meliandra. Dionysia was a typical Bulstrode to look at, stocky and dark haired with sallow skin and a square, pugnacious face. William Waffling, brother of Wanda and Wendy had been deposited on them; and he stood around trying to look Byronesque and succeeding – so Veronica giggled to the marauding ones – in looking constipated.

"It's called Emo" said another weevil. "My name's Bethany Purbeck; I'm muggleborn, my brother's just left Hogwarts; our other siblings went to Rowan but I have high hopes because I managed to turn a ruler into a stick of toffee last term at school when a teacher was going to slap a boy on the hand with it – which is against the rules in any case but she's an old besom – so I guess I'm doing something right. Emos are people who haven't quite got what it takes to be Goth but want to hang about being interesting and depressive." She indicated another boy "This is Sebastian Diggory; his brother's the same age as Gerald, but went to Rowan 'cos he's a squib. But they know each other a bit."

Sebastian gave a rather shy smile.

Everyone was avoiding Niobe Cooper, sister of second year Marauder Isambard and with two other older siblings already in the school, Ashleigh in the upper sixth and Rowland in the fourth. Niobe had a whining sort of voice and seemed to use tears as a weapon to get her own way which, as Purnima said, was going to get her no further with the staff than it already had with Lucius who asked what a crèche-aged brat was doing at his weevil fest.

There were a lot of goblins this year; as one of the brides in Lionel's unconventional set up, Arjelan had brought her twin brothers, Hadjan and Alrak who had promptly attached themselves to the group surrounding the Malfoy-Tobak twins. Kreszi Kordach was also there, Kordach's second legitimate child and so half sister of Stacey; and ready to offer to Lucius the opinion that she was glad HER mum wasn't such an idiot as Stacey's and did he need her to make a diversion. She and her older full sister were solidly behind Stacey, and Lucius thought it very nice; and said so.

That made six goblins and two half elves; the highest number of non humans ever. However, numbers overall in the school were picking up after two generations of depleted numbers, through the deaths caused by the deatheaters and through the refusal of some people to send their children to a high profile school that had been targeted by Voldemort. Lucius had no doubt that the numbers would soon be returning to a reasonable number, and might have to be split so that two houses at a time only attended any one class. Which with the extra lessons would make scheduling them all very tight; but that would be David Fraser's problem.

Of the other weevils at the party, one was there by courtesy to the Black family, being one of the Hitchens cousins; George was the youngest of three brothers who had proved luminaries of Ravenclaw house without being involved in either trouble or mischief. Another Ravenclaw relative was Sibilla Crawford, third of four sisters; and the two older ones were enthusiastic members of the MSHG. They hung together from sibling association; and George declared every intention of belonging to the MSHG like his oldest brother Leonard, now left with a respectable array of NEWTs. They had sort of collected William Waffling by default and were too kind to shed him.

The would-be marauders had no such qualms. Veronica took William firmly by the arm.

"Here, William, come and meet Niobe Cooper" she said "She understands Emo; never a dry eye in the house" and dumped him on Niobe.

The new weevils met another older pupil's younger brother when Gorbrin whistled up the new Weevils for a knockabout quidditch match, discovering that Bayard Chevallier, brother of second year Alcippe, considered himself likely to be better than anyone else.

He was doomed to disappointment and retired in a fit of the sulks to have rings flown round him by Zakala Malfoy-Tobak and by Alrak and Hadjan gan Nork who were all extremely good; and also out performed by Bethany Purbeck, Walter Crabbe and Chrys Lockhart. Bayard was not naturally racist as a matter of course but it did rankle that goblins and mudbloods should be better than him, a pure blood wizard; Chrys and Walter being the only ones he acknowledged as having any RIGHT to be better players!

"And serve you right for boasting" said his sister Alcippe. "And when you've had your corners knocked off you by being at school you'll be a nicer brother to have. Now dry up and stop being a fool; you will not win friends acting the goat."

Bayard scowled. He was not sure he wanted such friends as these anyway; he could do fine on his own!

oOoOo

What did not help with those who despised goblins, thought Alrak disapprovingly, was the way his twin Hadjan clowned about and acted in an exaggeratedly vulgar way to get cheap laughs; emphasising the Birmingham accent and making crass jokes. And if it weren't bad enough that such must antagonise young witches and wizards, it must surely too put off even such goblins as had class and a place in society like the Malfoy girls and Kreszi Kordach, whose father was a very important man!

"I apologise for my twin, Malfoy" he said stiffly to Zelinn "He is lowering us both with such behaviour."

Zelinn shot him a look; Alrak was acutely uncomfortable.

Zelinn's own twin, Zakala, was laughing.

"Look here, Gan Nork" said Zelinn "I think this is the way your brother deals with shyness about being in a new social situation; and actually, two of my brothers are clowns, Draco and Gorbrin. Draco did the Convolvumort stuff on Wizarding Wireless; so it's sort of almost what we're used to at home anyhow. We're all goblins who've made it by going to Hogwarts; and I bet your twin is as proud of that as you are, and proud of your big sister too. I'd resent a human making goblin jokes I think; but we're sort of entitled. I – I don't think you should let it upset you; I reckon we all have different ways of dealing with how scary it is to go away to school for the first time, even those of us who do have twins. Do you mean to be in the same house as your twin?"

"I don't know; it isn't up to us is it?" asked Alrak.

"Well; no – and yes" said Zelinn. "You see, if you really, really DON'T want to be in a particular house, the sorting hat takes note of your wishes; and if you really DO want to be in a house and you're suitable it will take that into account. I was planning on being the first Malfoy and the first Goblin in Ravenclaw – if I'm clever enough. And I think I am. I think Zakala's hoping to end up in Gryffindor. All our full siblings have been in Slytherin to date; though some of dad's other kids have been Gryffs and one of our cousins was the first Malfoy in Gryffindor. He was Head Boy too; like Draco was" she added proudly.

"You ARE well integrated – that you think first of being the first MALFOY into Ravenclaw, and goblin comes second" said Alrak.

"Being a Malfoy is a bit of a state of mind" said Zelinn. "Dad adopted us when twin and me were about six or seven; and really, we've gone out of our way to forget what happened before because it wasn't very nice at all. And dad makes no difference between any of us – apart from the fact that he tries not to show that Gorbrin's a bit of a favourite of his – and nor do the mums; so really, I guess we are more Malfoy than goblin. And isn't that the way it should be? Pride in one's family rather than riding a hobby-horse about WHAT we are? Blake and Makepeace's sister Michelle made a pratt of herself last year insisting that everyone who disagreed with her was racist and out to put elves and half elves down."

"What's the story there? Why do they have different names?" asked Alrak.

"Oh, this man owned an elf and wanted more than stud fees so he kidnapped three muggle women and made them get pregnant lots to sell the half elf children; Draco nicked him and it opened all sorts of cans of flobberworms because the law is unclear about the status of half elves conceived into slavery; only he was done under the laws against enslaving muggles, and the law that a child born to a free woman is free, so they were free in that the women were not legally slaves. And Draco got the women to give their kids clothing quickly too. Annette and Colin are all right. Roger's going to be a Quaestor – he's the oldest – and Michelle is a silly moo. But she got conned royally by the head girl who asked her if she should be treated differently to humans, and of course Michelle said no, and got the same massive impot any other pratt would get for stirring up trouble and slandering a boy."

"Sounds complex" said Alrak.

"It is, fairly" said Zelinn. "Draco revels in sorting out complex legal tangles though so I'm sure he enjoyed finding how many ways he could throw the book at the creep who tried THAT trick."

oOoOo

A recurrence of the rain drove the youngsters indoors and Gorbrin organised a game of 'animal, vegetable, mineral or enchanted' and kicked off with the relatively simple 'vegetable and animal' which was a Dryad and then let it take its own momentum to the extent of 'mineral and enchanted with animal and vegetable connections' which was the paint on a portrait of Armando Dippet with a geranium.

Veronica kept them guessing for a long time and was finally given up on over 'enchanted with animal connections' which was the ghost of the Hogwarts History Professor; and called shame on Seth for not getting THAT.

Seth retorted that he wasn't used to the game with the extra category of 'enchanted' in it and that she hadn't played fair to the question 'what colour is it?' by declaring it colourless when he would have said that ghosts were filmy white with blueish tinges in full daylight.

"Well that would have given in right away!" said Veronica "And white is an absence of colour anyway!"

"No it isn't" said Seth "It's all the colours which is how come you can break up white daylight into a spectrum and how rainbows happen and I can prove it to you if there's any crayons here and something I can make a spinning top out of."

A spinning top was borrowed from the nursery and Erica loaned her coloured pencils and Seth coloured in a piece of paper to go onto the top and spun it.

"It isn't really WHITE" said William Waffling.

"Well the colours aren't totally accurate er, spectral colours" said Seth "If they were and it spun fast enough it would be totally white."

Erica, who had come to see her pencils came to no harm promptly charmed the segments to be pure spectral colours and to blend perfectly one into another and set the top spinning faster that it was designed to do.

"See?" said Seth "THANK you Malfoy."

"That's extraordinary!" said William "Are you sure it's not done by the big girl with magic?"

Seth kicked the top so it stopped suddenly and the colours reappeared as it spun down.

"It's science" said Seth "And with cardboard and dowel you can make them 'cos we did at school."

Gorbrin and Erica acquired cardboard and shaped sticks to Seth's direction and the weevils were kept occupied for the rest of the afternoon making their own spinning tops.

Anything for a quiet life on a wet afternoon at a weevil fest.

Gorbrin wanted a quiet life; he had his own projects to get on with before term started. He was using the skills he had gained in metalworking – that he did not feel he could really take to NEWT as he was already taking eight other subjects – to make a device to help him with his chanting. It was based on the concept of a metronome and could be set to a number of rhythms and the speed set with infinite variability up to a maximum. He had had to endure several jokes from younger siblings and Bella who, when he likened it to a metronome and Gennar asked what that was had replied,

"It's like a garden gnome but it rides on the underground trains."

Gorbrin had cuffed her.

Bella grinned, said it actually sounded really useful but how did he think she could pass up a straight line like that? And since Gorbrin rarely passed up a straight line he laughed, kissed her and explained a bit more fully to Gennar.

Gorbrin felt that chanting was his weak subject as he had only gained 'E' in it at OWL, that and care of domestic beasts being his only 'E' grades in a raft of 'O's. Chanting however was important; and if he planned to be an auror, having such to undo curses would be invaluable. Draco used chanting a lot in his work as an auror.

oOoOo

It was the would-be Weird Marauders who were out first thing in the morning barefoot and pyjama'd in the wet grass to scrump early apples before the rest were up, waiting for the MSHG contingent here to convene; excitement had kept them from sleeping long.

So it seemed had it for others.

The Marauders were practising sneaking and so made little noise and heard quite clearly a child's voice,

"It IS too early you dipstick."

"Well SOMETIMES I seen the Malfoys get up early; and when they do they do sometimes play that broomstick game and you said you wanted to see more."

"I do; but it's still perishing cold and I'm hungry" said the first voice.

"You can share our apples if you like" said Veronica "Are you muggles from the village?"

There was a rather surprised rustle and two small boys emerged from the hedge.

"We ain't trespassing – well not quite" said the second voice.

"That's all right; we're inviting you to join us for a snack" said Veronica, tossing an apple each. "What are your names and how old are you? I'm Veronica, this is Purnima, Haz, Chrys, Walter, and Seth,"

"Well you ain't got such weird names as some I've heard" said the second boy "I'm Charles Tippet and this is me cousin Tim. I'm from the village but I don't know what you mean by muggle; my dad's a driving instructor. I started coming up here to see Mr Malfoy's swell classic cars. I'm eleven; Tim's ten."

Charles had blonde hair and enough of a look of the Malfoys to have some heritance from the family; Tim was a brown haired boy with pale skin and a birth mark across his face. He turned to hide it.

"Did you want to get rid of the mark?" asked Veronica.

Tim snorted.

"'Course I do! I get bullied enough at the school I'm at; when I go up to secondary school it'll be worse!" he said.

"Do we actually know enough about chanting?" said Purnima "I mean, being forbidden wands out of school….."

"Like anyone will actually NOTICE in Malfoy Manor?" snorted Hasibul. "It's a bit beyond us but ERICA could do it easy as pie! And they'll all be out soon."

The boys looked nervous.

"Look, we – uh, we don't want to be in any trouble" said Charles "I've seen some of the things that happen to people who piss off Mr Malfoy; like that old besom who got followed by a thunderstorm AWESOME!"

"Can you see what makes some of his kids different?" asked Seth.

"Y'mean the ones that look like something out of Labyrinth with the long hands and feet?" said Charles.

"Yes. Excuse me, I am not threatening you" said Seth and got his wand out. "This is called Scarpin's revellaspell and it ought to tell us if you're muggles – non wizards – who are sensitive and can see stuff or if you're actually magical."

"If he's actually magical he'd have been at the weevil fest with the rest of us because he'd have been invited to school" objected Veronica.

"Well, yes, but the big people say it kinda comes in degrees" said Seth. He laid out the lines. "It – I think it's them ones there" he said "Six means either pure bred or a fortuitous combination; four is the usual limit. They both have three, but Charles has longer ones."

"You mean I might be able to do magic and fly on brooms in that wild game?" said Charles.

"WHAT are you horrors up to and if you're up why aren't you dressed?"

Lucius appeared round a shrub. The small muggles cowered and various children grabbed them and explained at the tops of their voices.

Lucius listened, and unravelled.

"Hmm" he said "Well Charles, YOU at least are plainly related to me; and it seems to me that if you take an interest in magic the pair of you should go to Rowan House school where you will learn more about our world; and to use such of it as you may. Alongside your er GCSE exams" he waved his own wand "And if you have the determination, Charles you MIGHT get to Hogwarts, the school for witches and wizards; I'd have said that you were borderline. And THAT means it would be down to you and your determination and belief in yourself. If you were in the same year I imagine you'd prefer to stick by Tim; but it will be what you decide to make of yourself. It's in London; a boarding school."

"My dad couldn't afford it; though thank you sir for the suggestion" said Charles "Tim's parents might manage; if they can stop scrapping long enough to care about him. But my parents are arranging his education right now anyway because his are going through a messy divorce at long distance 'cos his dad's a captain on a tanker. It brings the oil to make your cars go" as Lucius looked faintly puzzled.

"As you're kin of mine I'll pay; whichever school you end up in" said Lucius. "And I'll come see your parents."

"PLEASE Mr Malfoy, can YOU sort out Tim's face?" demanded Purnima.

"We didn't think we knew enough yet" said Chrys.

"Though we want to learn chanting" said Walter. "Professor Snape undid some of the things St Mungo's couldn't with a chant and it didn't half upset the consultant healer!"

Lucius chuckled.

"I bet" he said "Severus enjoys rattling the chains of the pompous with limited understanding and a belief that anything out of their understanding can't happen…. Yes, you boys, we wizards have limited fools and half wits too and most of them are in the equivalent of your civil service. It seems easy enough; I don't even need a chant for that, a medical transfiguration; a little more ticklish as it's progressive. Grown over the last few years, has it lad?"

"Yes sir; and it's getting hard and horny in places. I – I looked it up on the internet and I – I'm scared of becoming like the Elephant Man."

"It isn't quite that bad but chances are it will sprout hair and go horny" said Lucius. "So I need to change that in you which makes it do so…. This will feel a little hot" he added, waving his wand over the ugly red mark.

Tim gasped and put his hand to his face.

Charles stared.

"It's GONE!" he said, awed.

"Oh SIR!" said Tim.

"You're welcome" said Lucius "Now go back to breakfast; and ask your parents to come and see me at a reasonable hour of day; you may come with them and play with the brats I have here until I am thankfully relieved of them by their parents at tea time."

"We love you too Uncle Lucius" said Veronica. He ruffled her reddish curls laughing.

Charles had limited ability; but he was no less able than some of the near squibs Hogwarts had seen. The hat would decide if he came to Hogwarts or went to Rowan; and if he cared to get up early to watch wizardry in action, he deserved the chance to learn more about it.

oOoOo

Lucius had little trouble with Charles' parents. His father had also watched the things small Draco had got up to; being some ten years older than Draco, he had seen the boy's earliest manifestations of magical ability and how that had been praised. He could also see elves. And his wife was a local girl who looked Malfoy enough to confirm Lucius' suspicions that most of the boy's talent came from her. She too had wondered all her life about the people of Malfoy Manor; being a wizarding family made it, as she said, suddenly all fall into place.

They had two younger sons, Peter and Luke; who had more talent than Charles, Lucius thought, especially seven year old Luke.

"I'd not be surprised to see the younger two exhibiting magical talent" said Lucius "Especially Luke; they're at an age where it shows up naturally if it's strong. Charles is borderline; an infortuitous combination of genes. But hard work can bring him further if he wants" he smiled "And I strongly suggest that your younger boys should play with my daughter Lucasta and my chauffeur's son Harry; I have twin girls a year younger than Luke too and my eldest grandson. It will help them develop their knowledge and give them a working knowledge too of the wizarding world. I expect Dudley – Harry's father – will drop in to chat; he's a muggle and has adapted very well to the wizarding world; his cousin is something of a legend amongst wizards, and Dudley is well known in the wizarding community, which proves that being a muggle will not preclude Tim from having a part in our society, especially if he is er, computer savvy; something we lack. And few wizards actually learn to drive well; a good chauffeur is more than a driver, he's a man who understands how to deal with any magical threats as well as the normal hazards of the road. And if you teach driving, I shall be able to send to you those who want to learn properly, with someone who will take the lack of understanding of the muggle world most wizards have into account."

"I told my brother he was a fool to marry some posh totty he picked up in London" said Mr Tippet "See where it got him that his son has less talent! She's an auctioneer and she expects him to give up his job to care for poor Tim because she's just got lucrative contracts travelling Europe. Well he can scarcely come haring home from the Gulf, can he? And shipping is all he knows anyway! And now the cow is divorcing him because she's found a richer model."

"It would be nice if there was a happy medium between the muggle habit of divorcing as readily as changing shoes and the wizard habit of hiding all the misery and anger because it is shameful and only letting it hurt the children" sighed Lucius. "Well it seems she's happy to park the poor lad on you; and if you'll let me sponsor him to Rowan House I think he'll have greater options."

"I think we are fortunate to have so generous and kind a distant relative" said Mrs Tippet "And for the children we won't turn it down; there's no such thing as pride where our kids are concerned."

"Madam Tippet; cousin Caroline; you are an excellent mother" said Lucius.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Seth tried hard not to rubberneck in Diagon Alley.

He had had more than half a year to get used to being part of the wizarding world; and had seen amazing magical things – including the ritual to restore him to a body, that he knew was beyond anything most wizards had seen – and yet nothing could ever prepare him for Diagon Alley.

Plenty of other children were staring around wide eyed; they were not the muggleborn either since most were being hustled along by parents in the robes fashionable in the wizarding world. He waved to Lucius and his contingent – which also included the boy Charles, who was not troubling to hide his wonder and amazement; the twins and Odiza, who was with them, took it all in their stride. He tugged Dumbledore's arm.

"Father" he said – it still felt a little strange, but nice – "Are the ones who don't look so excited the ones who shop here often?"

Albus Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes lad; either those who live in London or who travel to London to shop" he said. "The Malfoys, as you can see, come often to London – and a good day to you too" he said raising his hat to a wizard who called a greeting. "I'm afraid we're going to be stared at a little, my boy; I don't often visit Diagon Alley save on important business – of course, outfitting my son IS important business but in the eyes of most, it generally means I'm saving the world or something" he twinkled at Seth. Seth grinned.

"I suppose it's what they're used to you doing" he said.

Indeed several wizards stopped Albus to ask if there was anything wrong. Albus smiled genially.

"I don't know. Is there?" he asked.

"You are a bad man sir" said Seth, chuckling as they moved away from a knot of wizards now discussing very earnestly if the Head of Hogwarts was trying to hide some cause for concern.

"I have a rather impish sense of humour" admitted Dumbledore "That really cannot pass up the opportunity to let fools make worse asses of themselves than usual. Dear me, what goes on ahead?"

What went on was a small but vocal demonstration with a placard reading 'Free our Falcons!' and all the participants wearing dark grey and white robes, most of them with a falcon's head emblazoned on it. A dark-robed man was expostulating with them.

"It ain't FAIR Mr Oglethorpe!" one of the demonstrators cried.

"It is quite fair, my good man" said Oglethorpe "The blatant fouls on the part of the Broadmore brothers gave the referee no choice but to suspend the whole team since the suspension of those two players alone in the past has not proved enough. And may I say" he added sternly "That if the Falcon supporters make any trouble about the matter, Q.U.A.B.B.L.E. will take steps to have the team disbanded entirely. The suspension is until Yule only for the whole team and for the year round for the Broadmores. There is some question over whether Jean-Luc Pantouffle will live; and if he dies the brothers will be up on murder charges. I suggest you go home quietly and try not to remind other people that you support a team that has brought British Quidditch into disrepute."

There were uncomfortable mutterings. The Broadmore brothers were the twin sons of one of the brothers of the same name who had been responsible for a large number of suspensions to the team through the 'sixties; and they seemed to have a like disposition to their forebears.

Dumbledore had moved over.

"I would add my urgings to Mr Oglethorpe" he said. "And be grateful that the match was not refereed by David Fraser who would probably have turned the offending players into flobberworms; the Falmouth Flobberworms has such a GAUCHE ring to it, doesn't it?"

Oglethorpe gave the headmaster a grateful smile.

"Professor Fraser is rather more talented than most international referees" he said. "Though it WAS a rather novel solution to turn both captains of the Cracow Crows and the Gorodok Gargoyles into sheep to stop them coming to wandicuffs."

Dumbledore chuckled.

"David has always been known for his novel solutions; his novel solutions massacred all of Voldemort's werewolves; and most of those of Odessa" he said. This was just to drive the point home to the demonstrators, Seth realised.

"Fraser's a fair man" volunteered one of the protestors.

"Yes; and I know him very well" said Dumbledore "And he'd tell you to go home and make your protest more cogent by sending howlers to those of your team who let their fans down so badly that they got the team suspended."

"That's a damn good idea; thanks headmaster!" said one of the protesters. They nodded to Dumbledore and Oglethorpe and dissipated.

"You leaned on them, Albus" said Oglethorpe.

Albus chuckled.

"Dear me, Dunbar, do you really expect me to admit to it?" he said twinkling happily.

"Oh I'm grateful" said Oglethorpe "The Falcons fans seem to take it that it's only been a good game if there have been at least six medical time outs and that for members of the opposing team."

"How bad IS the Beauvais Seeker?" asked Dumbledore.

"Not as bad as I made out; though he would have been if David Fraser and Viktor Krumm had NOT blown in, chanted over him for several minutes and advised skelegrow to replace the bone from the depressed fracture they took out with the chant" said Oglethorpe dryly.

"Oh David knows what he's doing" said Albus "Not a chanter of the calibre of Severus of course, but very competent. And Viktor's no slouch. As chanting saved HIS life he takes it very seriously."

"And the French sports minister screaming about wanting to know how this chanting works and how come it is used by children in the Triwizard and sundry sports personalities and is not used in the hospital and nor is it taught in French schools" said Oglethorpe.

"Well they can always send someone to Hogwarts or Prince Peak to learn it if they wish" said Albus calmly. "You'll excuse me; I'm outfitting my son."

Oglethorpe noticed Seth; apologised for ignoring him; shook his hand and wished him well at school whilst giving Albus a covert look which clearly thought him a deep one to have concealed a son for so long.

It set Albus chortling again.

oOoOo

The goblin coming along the street was also chuckling.

Seth eavesdropped shamelessly as he explained to a friend that he had cleaned up; as a bookie he had taken a lot of bets on the Falmouth Falcons getting as far as the semi finals of the UEQA cup. Being suspended they could not make enough points to be in with a chance of reaching even the playoffs.

"It was only a matter of time" said the other goblin philosophically "The Broadmore brothers are nutters; and the warnings they and the team have received, you just knew that sooner or later they'd put a stinging hex through their own foot by acting up. If I was the manager of the Falcons I'd fire them. Merlin's toenails, that gives the Chuddleigh Cannons an outside chance of making the playoffs; they're making quite a comeback at long last."

"I can offer you thirty to one against" said the bookie.

"You're on" said the other. "And I want a proper slip on it not a verbal guarantee. Your memory might become unreliable."

oOoOo

Dumbledore took Seth to Gringott's bank first and the boy was duly impressed by the marble temple to wealth with its metal bound doors and scurrying staff. As they waited for a cashier, a goblin courier came in with a large box flanked by a pair of security trolls and went straight through the barriers and down somewhere into the bowels of the bank.

And there, shortly, went Albus and Seth, in one of the railway carts driven at breakneck speed by a scrawny goblin with ears that stuck out. Albus sat in the cart with apparent equanimity; Seth quite enjoyed it. The speed did not trouble him and he had never been travel sick. They stopped at Albus' personal vault and were left to go inside.

"My father left us well provided for" said Albus "You and the other three will not want when I die; I've speculated a little over the years to add to it; latterly with advice from Lucius who has a Midas touch. Largely, I have to say, because I wanted to see Perceval left well off; and now I have you three as well. As the oldest, Seth, you'll be responsible for sorting it out fairly. I've written a will to that effect. That you inherit it all on the condition that you share it fairly with your three siblings; personal bequests I have left in a private letter for you. Not that I have any intention of dying yet" he added "But while you're getting over seeing gold stacked in heaps you may as well get used to the idea that you'll have to deal with it some day. Well, well, let's take a couple of handfuls and go shopping; it's what we're here for!"

oOoOo

Seth was glad to get his cauldron to put everything else in, and to run into Chrys in the Cauldron shop.

"Hi Chrys!" he said

"Hi Seth!" said Chrys "Mum, this is my friend Seth Dumbledore."

Chrys Lockhart's mother was handsome rather than beautiful, with reddish hair; and was dressed artistically which her firm and determined manner rather belied.

She blinked slightly.

"With eyes that blue you have to be the son of THE Dumbledore; I do hope, for your sake, Seth, that you're no relation of that Zabini woman?"

Seth looked down his nose slightly.

"Darryl Zabini is a kind boy who has been very nice to me" he said "Whatever his mother may have done; he's a victim too."

"Quite, poor lad" said Chrys' mother. "I meant no disparagement; merely to sympathise if you had such undue publicity to contend with. Even GOOD publicity can be wearing at times. We've been photographed a dozen times since we got into Diagon Alley. Poor Chrys – a good shortening for school – is getting quite distracted."

"May I ask why Chrysogon? I mean, it's a girl's name, Lilith Snape says" asked Seth. She pulled a face.

"His father suggested it; I hoped by complying he'd support his child. He laughed at me then and said he wanted to see how gullible I really was. I found out it was a girl's name later. I call him Rufus at home; Rufus was my father; and if he hadn't been killed by deatheaters he'd have made Amadeo Lockhart pay, one way or another, for abandoning his son. It gives me great pleasure to refuse his money now and have Chrysogon Rufus use his surname."

"Well, he can trust Mad Lockhart" said Seth "Who shed being Amadeo Hero as rather extreme. He's one of our prefects and well cool; he's a Marauder. Marauders are the wheels in school; they right wrongs and depress the oppressors and sit on bullies and so on."

"Well if he has a pleasant older cousin that is nice; Mad you say? It seems he has not been unduly influenced by his silly mother."

"Oh well, I suppose it takes all sorts" said Seth "At least she loves him; not all parents love their children. Like…. Like Darryl" he added, nearly saying 'like me'.

"There is that. Oh NO, not MORE reporters!" she looked hunted.

"Quick Chys, you come round with dad and me; while your mum fields them!" said Seth.

"Thank you!" said Miss Thirkettle, Chrys's mum.

"And so say I!" said Chrys. "Mum, tell them I'll pose for them later with my kit and uniform; if they lay off me while I shop."

"I will; take care!" said his mother and moved to intercept the reporters.

One of the reporters caught sight of Seth and called out,

"I say, Mr Zabini!"

Seth ignored him. How ignorant some people were! Darryl Zabini did not look in the least like him; all they shared was an approximate shade of skin tone!

The reporter ran up.

"Mr Zabini, can you give me your impressions on your mother's trial?" he asked.

Seth gave him as fishy a look as he could manage.

"You appear to mistake me for someone else" he said "My name is Dumbledore; and I have no mother to go on trial. I do not believe that the law permits you to pester minors; my father, Albus Dumbledore, will have something to say to you in a moment."

And indeed Albus arrived suddenly beside his son and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I have no comment to make about my affairs and how I come to have a son and two daughters in addition to the child I adopted a couple of years ago" he said. "The boy is motherless now; and I pray you respect his grief over that. As to even hinting that I should have an affair with Jocasta Zabini, you are way off the mark; I knew her from the age of eleven remember and I have a deal of discrimination and nobody has yet accused me of lacking basic common sense. Dear me, Philip, you were a nosy little boy at school, ever ready to leap to the wrong conclusions; cost you your potions OWL as I recall for brewing what you THOUGHT the paper asked for instead of what was written down. Severus still cites it as a case of more than usually inept inutility from one with delusions of sentience."

The reporter flushed dull red. He could almost hear Professor Snape's sneering voice saying that.

"I'm sorry Professor Dumbledore" he muttered and escaped. Seth stealthily let loose one of the jinxes he had learned from his sojourn in Myrtle's loo; and was rewarded shortly thereafter by the appearance of a fluorescent cloud of effluvium from the reporter's backside.

"I love magic" he murmured utterly unaware that casting such wandless was NOT considered normal.

Seth felt a pang of pity and a certain amount of guilt at his relief as a ghost drifted disconsolately down the street and he realised that one of his overwhelming feelings was joy that he no longer had so indeterminate a state.

Albus Dumbledore squeezed Seth's shoulder and the boy gave him a grateful smile. It wasn't all legilimensy; his dad knew how you were feeling all the time without that!

And Seth could appreciate how the muggle parents of two children – who looked like twins – must feel, looking around in more horror than wonderment; the way he had felt at first about the magical world. He smiled and went over.

"It's a bit overwhelming at first, isn't it?" he said

"It defies all the laws of physics!" said the father.

"I don't know enough to argue; but I know there are rules concerning it" said Seth "My dad here could explain better."

The muggles eyed Dumbledore dubiously.

"Professor Dumbledore!" said the woman "I didn't know you had your own children."

Dumbledore smiled.

"A wise man once wrote that there is a time and place for everything under the sun" he said. "Including the having of offspring. Seth is my oldest child; he will be in the same year as Ruth and Mason, Madam Dixon – Mr Dixon. You are knowledgeable about physics; you refer of course to the laws of thermodynamics?"

"Yes I do, Professor; and I am surprised to find that wizards should be knowledgeable about them too."

Dumbledore smiled his gentle smile.

"Oh most are not; and I confess I came to the knowledge late. I have recently had a number of young witches and wizards who, being muggleborn, have taken the effort to see how closely they may ally magic and the world of muggle science and technology. They have show more parallels than may be realised. You are aware of course that arithmantically – no, I mean Mathematically – speaking, matter and energy are the same?"

"Yes, that is so" said Mr Dixon.

"This is an important principle in certain advanced – sixth form – magical usage too" said Dumbledore. "And far from breaking the laws of thermodynamics, magic obeys them very well indeed. The effects may seem to break such laws, but in fact the energy to perform magic is either drawn directly from the witch or wizard casting the spell, one reason we have massive meals at the school to counteract the very real physical consequences and calorific loss of learning the practical nature of spellcasting, or from the environment. A particularly skilled magical practitioner can perform spells of a level that noticeably drop the ambient temperature; with significant ritual care has to be taken that the draw upon local energy does not cause localised weather effects as a result. All things have their consequence. Those people who are wizards and witches are merely able to manipulate a force not described in science as muggles know it; in the same way that a magnet can affect er quite a lot of things; and a bar of soft iron that is not magnetised cannot"

Mr Dixon looked happier.

"Well now!" he said "That makes it easier to take; though I must say now I feel chagrined that the laws of physics as I know them are incomplete!"

"But then" said Dumbledore "Is not this always the way with science? New theories change old views; some are spurious, some hold some truth, some supersede previously held supposed truisms."

"As illustrated by the satirical poem 'nature and all her works lay hid in night; God said, 'let Newton be!' And all was light. The devil shouting 'ho! Let Einstein be!' restored the status quo!'" said Mr Dixon. "Well the first bit was written in all seriousness by Alexander Pope; the second part was added by some wag to illustrate exactly what you have just said. We've had Dark Matter, String Theory and Stephen Hawkins has done for Einstein what Einstein did for Newton."

"And perhaps your children will one day do the same for Stephen Hawkins" said Dumbledore. He did not think muggles were likely to assimilate any theory of magic into their science in the foreseeable future; for muggles the stumbling block was that not everyone could perform the acts reproducibly, failing to take into account that although any muggle could turn on an electric light, not all muggles could drive cars successfully, nor make the electricity work on a level not massively refined and made foolproof. Even as items enchanted to draw energy automatically and operated by switch not intent could possibly be used by muggles – something that should really be tested – and such things as invisibility cloaks worked equally well with muggles underneath them. But muggles saw only that scientific acts could be reproduced by anyone with application, blissfully disregarding the concept that 'little Johnny is no good at science, he has no aptitude for it' was as valid as one who had no aptitude for magic. Muggles were so very human in their abilities of self deception.

Ruth and Mason Dixon were meanwhile eyeing Seth and Chrys with wary friendliness.

The boys introduced themselves and hands were shook.

"Please, I don't mean to be rude but are you a boy Chris or a girl?" asked Ruth "I don't want to make an embarrassing mistake."

"Oh, and I guess you don't know styles enough to recognise that I'm wearing a boy's robe" said Chrys "Though that doesn't stop the various Malfoy kids holding all clothes in common and the girls wearing their brothers' kit I guess; and there are plenty of unisex robes, like for quidditch. I have the curls because my mum writes sentimental poetry about me and it pays the bills; so I can put up with looking a bit of a dork to live well."

Ruth flushed.

"I – I never implied you look a dork!" she said.

"No; but I know I do" said Chrys. "My friends don't care, you know, so nor do I. And if they did they wouldn't be my friends; because a chap has to care for his mother."

The Dixon twins murmured appropriate agreement hoping that they said the right thing, never having been called upon to care for anyone.

They did not have to say much because everyone swung round at the awful cacophony.

The awful cacophony was Drusillina Hallow, Isabel Nightshade and Mimi Snape serenading Bella Black and Maud Hubble-Langstaffe for having been made fifth form prefects; the other three were on fart organs and comb and paper playing 'hail to the chief' with more enthusiasm than accuracy; which is to say, Mimi was fairly accurate and the other two were enthusiastic.

Bella jumped up onto a water butt fed by a down pipe and promptly cast the hovering charm when the lid descended and would have precipitated her into rather stagnant water.

"Friends! Romans!" she began

"COUNTRYMEN!" said Maud in a stage whisper.

"Nihil expectore in omnibus – no spitting on the public transport if we've left Shakespeare for Carry On films" retorted Bella "I want to acknowledge the due adulation of our good friends and to urge them never to leave off thoughts of one day achieving black and orange stripes! Thank you!" and she jumped down.

"You are the biggest nut in England Bella" said Drusillina without rancour "My parents would flip their lids if they saw you!"

"Yeah, but your parents ARE a bit stuffy O best beloved" said Bella.

"And I'm wondering why I ever let Bella loose as a prefect" said Dumbledore "TRY to have SOME decorum in public, my dear."

"Oops! Sorry professor!" said Bella; and beamed at him.

Dumbledore gave up.

"IS she a nut?" whispered Mason Dixon to Chrys.

"Only in the best sort of way, I think" said Chrys "At the party where all the new ones Lucius Malfoy knows about get to meet each other she was pretty decent about helping to organise games, even if she did insist on being a tiger when we did the morning run."

"Being a TIGER? What do you mean?" asked Ruth.

"Bella's an animagus – she can change form into an animal at will, and her form is tiger" explained Seth "It's one of the major kinds of shapeshifter that you have to know about for Comparative Magic, and the one with greatest liberty to the shapeshifter because it's all voluntary. Human transfiguration is most awfully tricky and not to be contemplated unless you're good."

"What's the morning run?" asked Mason.

"There's a club where you run very early and practise spells and air problems and kinda just learn more" said Seth "It started to help people out in the time when a dark wizard was terrorising the land; he had spies everywhere so they pretended to be earnest about muggle customs. And it's still called the MSHG to this day. The running helps stamina so you have more within you to draw on to cast spells and hold them up. Anyone's welcome, but the rules are, there are no ranks in the club – teachers can be called by first names if they belong – but you have to be proper OUT of it. And we watch films and stuff that have been made able to work without electricity because magic and electricity make each other not work. Hence Bella quoting films."

"She was?" said Ruth "Oh, I suppose if she was quoting something it would make more sense if you knew what it was she was quoting."

"Carry on Cleo is hilarious" said Seth "I live in the castle with dad and teachers' kids and the orphans get to join in the run and so on too, so I've seen a bit more than other new people. I'm looking forward to seeing 'Star Wars' that people are always quoting."

"We've seen all the 'Star Wars' films" said Mason.

"Oh, you'll be ahead of me on those quotes then" said Seth "I only really joined in a bit last year."

As the film equipment lived in Myrtle's loo, he had seen some films with a selection of marauders; and knew enough about the MSHG from discussions to sound knowledgeable about it!

oOoOo

Bella and co meanwhile finished their purchases – not extensive and mostly involving Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Garjala's latest toy, the bug-o-sneak, which worked like a view-o-sneak except that the bugging device was a clockwork self-winding beetle with facilities to view as well as listen to what was going on when you wore the special shades that projected the view the beetle saw onto the lenses and played what it heard into the earpieces. The Belle Marauders bought shades for each of them attuned to their beetle and paid extra for the deluxe version with limited omniocular-style record and replay facilities.

One never knew when such things might come in handy.

oOoOo

They wandered into Honeydukes for well-deserved refreshment – they thought they deserved it, anyway – and came face to face with a small girl who was a very pretty, red-haired half goblin with a goblin mother, looking harassed.

"Hello small weevil!" said Bella cheerfully. "You look frazzled! Got everything?"

"Except my wand" said the child. "I say, there ARE a lot of first year goblins; more than I expected. And some of them look very successful."

"Oh Malfoy-Tobaks and their friends I expect" said Bella "Zelinn and Zakala are kinda my cousins, well technically they're my step nieces but that's rather too cumbersome for everyday usage so cousin makes more sense and I'd scrag them if they called me auntie same as I would any of the kids and even more if Edward or Jareth called me great auntie" she came up briefly for air "They're Draco's kids you see and as he's a lot bigger then me, when I was your age I nutted him in the tum for calling me Auntie Bella because Draco has a warped sense of humour. Are you a Weasley or do you have red hair from another source?"

The child flushed and put her chin up in proud defiance.

"I don't know" she said "My father never tells us his real name; mum calls him Dee because he told her that's his initial."

Bella stared.

"Crumbs!" she said "That's a bit rotten; does he treat you all right otherwise?"

"I guess; he's paying for my schooling and he brings presents for me and for the triplets – I have triplet younger siblings – but when mum asked if I could use his name to go to school he said no, and said I should be called 'Kept' because my mum is a kept woman" she added resentfully "It's better than Gan Prok I suppose – though I suppose you don't know what that means."

"Actually we do" said Bella "Because I'm fairly familiar with Gobbledegook. It comes of having eclectic family and friends. I suppose he's married and doesn't want his wife to find out that he has a mistress in case you meet half siblings at school; and that would be awfully embarrassing if you liked them a lot and found out they were your brother, say, after snogging them. I can do a revellaspell on you if you like and tell you what I can see."

"Wands; under seventeen" said Maud "And you a prefect, Bella Black!"

"I was going to do a chanted version and dump the result onto a sheet of paper" said Bella calmly. "You can chant 'most any spell and circumvent the rules; as it gets released slowly it doesn't get picked up by the ministry in the same way."

"Cheesy git" said Drusillina cheerfully.

Bella chanted and coloured lines appeared.

"Well that looks like a Weasley to me" she said "Funny, 'cos most Weasleys are decent enough. Dee; well I can't think of any Weasleys starting with a 'D' offhand; though some of the Black-Weasleys have some odd names….. hang about, there's a Deiphobus and a Diomedes; he's an uncle of Magnus in the third. And Hector in the second. Magnus' dad is called Aristides, the next one is Bellisarius, then Cleon, then Diomedes, then Endymion. Too much classicism and not enough imagination; Black snob values intruding a little. Yeah, look, kids, there's definite signs of Black in there; I shall ask Professor Dumbledore if you can't come in as Black-Weasley; far more seemly, little cousin of mine! And I don't even know your name!"

"It's Lavazka. AM I your cousin?"

"Kinda sorta" said Bella "I claim it anyway; and right to look out for you. Did your mum want you to have a goblin name or did he insist on that too?"

Lavazka shrugged and looked at her mother who flushed.

"Dee said it would be better if they had goblin names" she said "They'd stand out less. He – he has treated me and the children well; I have nothing to complain about."

"Well maybe he has good reason; but I think that Lucius is the more honest, having all his women living with him" said Bella.

"You – you spoke of girls with goblin names as your step nieces – is that truly how they are treated? Excuse me asking" said the goblin woman.

"Oh they're Lucius' kids as much as any" said Bella. "He makes no distinction, be that with treats or a slipper across the backside for outstanding naughtiness; though the latter is usually me" she added cheerfully. "He's my brother-in-law; it's all very complex but he's a kind of father figure to me. I say, there's Professor Dumbledore and sundries in tow" she waved frantically and blood-pulsed Dumbledore "So he can change the records and I can hand you on to Seth and Chrys and they'll look out for you" she added

Dumbledore and charges came in, bought ices and joined the Belle Marauders and their acquisitions.

"Look at Lavazka's Malfoy lines, sir" said Bella "Clear case of Black-Weasley on the human tagging; she didn't ought to have a degrading name like 'Kept', it's not hardly any better than 'Gan Prok' only a bit more euphemistic than calling her bastard outright."

"You are quite right, Bella" said Dumbledore. "Well, Madam Gan Trodak paid with monies given to her and told me the name she understood her child should be registered under; but in fairness to ah, Lavazka, that can be easily changed. I suppose you even know who her father is?"

"I'd put money on Diomedes Black Weasley, Magnus' uncle" said Bella. "He's famously henpecked; and at least he's childless by his marriage. I mean, in concealing such things you could get siblings falling in love!"

"Quite so" said Dumbledore. "Well, I shall attempt to speak to Diomedes about it; he always was uncharacteristically selfish for a Weasley. And a snob I'm afraid."

"Please, Professor, if it IS what his name is, if you tell him he'll be angry with me and the children won't get an education!" cried Lavazka's mother.

Dumbledore smiled, and cast Scarpin's Revellaspell for himself.

"And now I can say truthfully that I have cast the spell and studied the Malfoy Lines" he said "So YOU need not be involved at all. And if he decides to cast you off, I suggest you bring the younger ones to Hogwarts; there's employment for people prepared to help in the orphanage, and the children can be sponsored by the school. And then I sue him for seduction and abandonment on your behalf. And he won't like THAT as a threat because his wife will find out in that case. He'll carry on paying. Do you love him?"

"Love? No sir. But he has been kind enough and it was a means to live when my father died and better than sleeping with a lot of men" said the woman. "What else is a goblin woman to do without a male protector?"

Dumbledore sighed.

"Hopefully soon, a lot more options will be available" he said. "But under the circumstances you had little choice. I hope he used midwifery spells or potions when you birthed to ease through larger children than normal goblin babies."

"There are spells and potions to ease it?" she was surprised.

"Your dad sounds like mine" whispered Chrys "He seduced my mum and then more or less dumped her; some men are rotters. And I use his name too, because she DID go to quaestors to make him bestow it legally."

"I – I don't really know him that well" said Lavazka "Though he didn't abandon us. Even if it was just to sleep with mum."

"Well, don't you worry; my dad will fix things" said Seth "Reckon Professor Dumbledore is the greatest man in the world! And I'm lucky he's my dad now!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Gorbrin was alone outside platform nine-and-three-quarters this year, with Ross left; hoping fervently that none of the Belle Marauders would consider it their duty to help him and learn the ropes. He loved them all dearly but somehow the Belle Marauder brand of sorting out trouble would not be entirely suitable in front of muggles.

"I say, Malfoy, when do you take an apprentice for train prefect duties?" asked Kevin Slugwothy, absently adjusting the precariously perched tank of multicoloured slugs that were his pets.

"When some idiot volunteers. Why, are you volunteering?"

"If you don't think I'm too young in the fourth" said Kevin.

Gorbrin laughed.

"The idea of a train-sorter, later formalised as train prefect, was introduced by David Fraser when he was a third year, because so much crap happened back then; it was still in the Voldemort years" he said "You know – the David Fraser who went on to be head boy, triwizard champion, international referee and who teaches at Prince Peak."

"He's a really cool type" said Kevin. "Well, my lot were discussing it and Roger and I got voted the best and Roge said that as he's so short and a half elf it might make discipline problems."

"I haven't had any yet as a goblin" said Gorbrin mildly.

"No; but you're also a Malfoy and harder than anyone bar the headmaster" said Kevin mildly. "As any older oik would quickly tell some pest of a weevil if they got cheeky; and of course anyone backs any prefect over a new oik."

"Well, it has some logic; and nothing to stop Roger or a couple of other of your group hanging out with you as support. And as someone to escort new teachers or older new types on board or nip to Wendy Malfoy's to contact the school if a bunch of muggle school inspectors turn up, as can happen as we hide by obviousness. Or to fetch aurors if someone gets kidnapped; like Pearl Brocklehurst did by idiots who thought she was a Malfoy to put pressure on my dad when he was busy getting the creep who killed my real father prosecuted."

Kevin chuckled.

"Sounds like a rather exciting life!" he said.

"And it can be rather more exciting than one might hope – but if that doesn't discourage you I'd be glad to have your support as a trainee er, trainee if you'll forgive the pun. It's a good custom to learn by watching."

"I like puns" said Kevin equably "What do you do about that problem?"

Hasibul Pradhan's orange cat was busy stalking Sebastian Diggory's rat.

Gorbrin leaped on the cat and held it firmly. There was a yowl of outrage.

"Pradhan, your basket has failed; GET your animal back inside" said Gorbrin, using his long goblin fingers to immobilise the cat "Diggory is NOT going to like having his rat eaten; teach your cat manners."

"Sorry Malfoy" said Hasibul "He yowls non stop in the basket."

"Wait until you're on the train and cast _engorgio_ on it so it's larger for him" said Gorbrin "Here, give me a hand stuffing him in; he doesn't want to go." The cat was clinging to the edge of the basket to hold itself out and random limbs waved wildly and with claws on the end.

Getting an unwilling cat into a cat basket at a busy railway station is never the easiest thing; and Gorbrin chanted under his breath to make the creature sleepy. He should get away with a slow release chant without the ministry going berserk.

Hasibul was sent on his way with a sleepy cat, apologising to Sebastian Diggory for the assault upon his rat.

oOoOo

"Who do you fancy voting for, as head oik?" asked Clementina Yaxley as she arrived.

"Who are the house heads? Albert is in Hufflepuff, a year younger than usual but I'm not sure who else is" said Gorbrin.

"Lydia in Gryff; Leo for us and Mad for the Ravers" said Clementina. "It was between him and Chad I guess; and three of them Marauders, so hard to pick."

"Albert could do with being left to get on with his work" said Gorbrin "Though he's steady enough for it" he reflected that all house heads were in fact blood group; and wondered if that had been deliberate on Albus' part. Probably not; Albert was the only choice in the combined sixth in Hufflepuff, blood group or no. And Marauders tended to be leaders. He grinned. "Mad's rather too harum scarum still; and a mad poet, I guess he can't decide if he's Christopher Marlowe or Philip Marlowe."

The sixth were currently enjoying books by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammet as their reading matter of choice, having had them introduced by Gorbrin and Meliandra who had discovered the authors after the MSHG had watched a number of films noir.

"The way he snogs Mei Chang he can't be Kit Marlowe" giggled Clem "He was gay!"

"Fair point" said Gorbrin "And besides he might have been Shakespeare and Shakespeare was a hack."

"Which doesn't bring us a lot closer" said Clem.

"I thought I'd vote for Lydia; she's brilliant and yet steadier than Leo" said Gorbrin. "And any Snape is worth voting for; they almost count as Malfoys."

"Git" said Clem without rancour, being a Malfoy cousin. "Besides, Lydia's a Malfoy by birth anyway same as her mum."

"That too" grinned Gorbrin.

oOoOo

He had to concentrate now, asking the names of those youngsters he did not know to tick them off on his list. The cold-eyed child with the unpleasant Erasmus Bobbin answered,

"MY name is Narcissa Bobbin; named after Narcissa Malfoy if it's any concern of an underling like you."

"Funny" said Gorbrin dryly "I don't believe my stepmother knows anyone called Bobbin. And call a prefect an underling again, small weevil of a first year and you'll find yourself in detention; as your brother should have explained. He NOT being a prefect and so thus being subject to prefect discipline like you. Bobbin, get that child inside and explain a few facts of life before she opens her silly mouth to make the sort of comments that are going to get her into deep trouble."

"Sorry Malfoy" said Bobbin, who had viewed the defection of Darryl Zabini to the non racists with interest, having learned to question some of the views he had been taught. And having Gorbrin act with quiet dignity and sounding like a Malfoy born in the face of his sister's rudeness actually made him squirm.

Gorbrin nodded pleasantly to him for the apology as he hustled the younger child through with exhortations that she was not to let him down by starting her school career acting the pratt.

Niobe Cooper was saying farewell to her parents with the inevitable tears, to the intense embarrassment of her elders; Ashleigh, an upper sixth prefect, deserted her younger siblings to hurry onto the train pleading a need to vote.

It was rather a contrast to the small girl who squared her jaw and firmly kissed and left her parents to come forward.

"Name please?" said Gorbrin.

"Bryony Urquhart" said the child. Gorbrin found her on the list

"Any relation to the ex-Slytherin who plays beater for the Inverness Inferii?" he asked politely.

"Unfortunately yes" said the child "And Daddy tries not to keep any connection; they were deatheaters in that branch. But I do like quidditch."

"Oh well, you join the MSHG and no-one will ever drag up having deatheater relatives" said Gorbrin. "It was formed to fight Voldemort; and we've fought Odessa and so on since, until that fell."

Bryony looked thoughtful.

"Well I don't suppose there'll be a power vacuum of dark wizardry for long" she said "So I shan't be wasting my time in joining it because I expect there'll be someone to have a crack at."

Gorbrin laughed.

"I'm afraid you'll be a Gryffindor if you look at it that way; which as a Slytherin myself I regret but good luck anyway!"

She gave him a thoughtful look.

"Or then again maybe I might have the opportunity to retrieve the family name in Slytherin House" she said.

"As we Malfoys have done once my father proved he was working for Albus Dumbledore" said Gorbrin "A laudable goal, small weevil."

The child nodded curtly and went through the barrier without a waver. She was well armoured, thought Gorbrin; presumably partly against the less pleasant branch and against those who went by the name and did not trouble to find out more – like young Rookwood in the second. And at least Lilith had befriended him.

"I don't know if she's all right or not" said Kevin.

"She wears tough on the outside to hide how it hurts when people only know the name as a deatheater and as a quidditch player with unsavoury reputation even, if anything, worse than the Broadmore brothers" said Gorbrin. "Nip inside and see she gets dumped on my sisters, the twins; they're hanging out with Arjelan's twin brothers, almost impossible to miss" he added. They also had care of Charles Tippet who might or might not make it into Hogwarts not Rowan House.

For Rowan House this year also was Katharine Tuthill, youngest sister of Ross and Freya, bubbling to have a part of the wizarding world and very different to her sullen sibling Imogen, who had been pacified by the inception of Rowan House but who still resented that two of her siblings had a talent she did not. Katharine had already met and made friends with Martina Christie – Lucius having suggested to the squib Marius Black that he do a similar weevil fest for those expecting to go to Rowan House – whose brother Jordan was in Gorbrin's year. Gorbrin cheerfully wished them both well. Marius Black's line was extensive and there were several on the waiting list for Rowan House as well as some expected to come to Hogwarts too – including Dudley Dursley's five children, four by Marius' granddaugher, and the youngest, Draco, missing Draco Malfoy's birthday by three days when he had been born earlier this year.

Also for Rowan were the twin cousins of twin muggleborn bound for Hogwarts; Ruth Dixon explained carefully that their mothers were twins and had birthed their twins on the same day, so Olivia and Holly were almost like quads with her and Mason, though of course they had a different surname.

"Well you never know, they might yet prove late developers and be transferred to Hogwarts in a higher year" said Gorbrin. "Sometimes having enough talent – if you're borderline – can be down to how much you WANT to have talent. There's a kid who's a distant Malfoy relative who is borderline on the train."

Two sets of twins ascended the train discussing this loudly and Gorbrin was left wondering if it were a record year for twins and if it were caused by anything or was only coincidence.

There were the usual crop of those of low talent that also could not afford Hogwarts fees who hoped to be day students, considering Rowan a cut above the free school in Obscura Alley if they could scrape together the fees for daily tuition; and Gorbrin grinned wryly since the New Marauders and friends probably provided as good an education as Hogwarts itself in the free school as would start to be demonstrated when they had had the chance to show what several years education could produce. True, the most talented were likely to be sponsored to Hogwarts – or Prince Peak if they proved to have one of the unique talents Severus specialised in teaching – but Gorbrin hoped that the free school would hold its own in the triwizard competition next time it was held. It was but snobbery; and the opportunity for the day pupils to rub shoulders with the children of the great and the good on the train journey before being sent back to Rowan House.

And too there was the hope that the child might have enough talent for the Hat to pronounce them into a Hogwarts House and to claim a scholarship.

Gorbrin disapproved faintly of such attitudes.

He was glad to welcome a young squib, who introduced herself as Yulan Chang, a cousin of Jingjie in the third and sundry others like Ming up the school or recently left; and she explained that she had a younger brother she fully anticipated able to make his way in Hogwarts.

"I wish I wasn't a squib, but ways of world mean it is so" she said philosophically. "And better to be a squib in a family that accepts and loves me anyway."

"Quite so" said Gorbrin "You go look for Kat Tuthill and Martina Christie; you'll be in their class and they're decent types."

The other surprise was when Bethany Purbeck introduced her friend Lucy Fitch.

"She lives next door to me and saw my first manifestation of magic" said Bethany "And we tell each other everything; and her parents were all right about it so she can still be my friend and know about the magical world and stuff, and they like to have people who can do things with computers."

"Oh quite so" said Gorbrin "My brother Draco is an Auror – it's kind of the same as being in the CID – and they have a division newly set up to check the internet for muggles talking about magic in any way that shows they've experienced it, which might constitute muggle baiting."

He sent Lucy to find Katharine, Martina and Yulan too.

oOoOo

Chrys Lockhart arrived in a flurry of reporters for whom he smiled and posed, and managed not to look bored; and one of the reporters approached Gorbrin.

"Hey, kid, if you're the watchdog, what's it worth to you to let me onto the platform to photograph him getting on the train?" he jingled coins in his pocket.

Gorbrin viewed him coldly.

"Bribery is a crime" he said "And I suggest you withdraw before I call the auror's office. Professor Dumbledore does NOT like his students being interfered with; and he has the ability to enforce that once they are on school property; to whit, the platform and the train."

"Aw, nuts; you can't actually stop us" said the reporter rudely

Chrys started moving towards the barrier; and Gorbrin blood pulsed his kindred.

The reporters were following.

"The platform is forbidden to any but schoolchildren and parents" said Gorbrin loudly "Professor Dumbledore has always made that clear."

"Stand aside laddie; we're going through" said a big beefy reporter.

"On your own head be it" said Gorbrin mildly "But anyone who tries will NOT make the midday editions."

"May I have permission, Mr Malfoy?" asked the photographer of the Wizarding Times.

"I am afraid I can't give you that" said Gorbrin "But I SHALL ask someone who has a hobby of photography to send you a picture or several of Chrysogon Rufus mounting the train and so on as you show courtesy. Deal?"

"Indeed yes; and they would be paid too" said the photographer, with a nod of agreement from the reporter he accompanied.

The rest had pushed through behind Chrys. Gorbrin knew fine well that they would NOT be happy.

"You'd better get your story in; the rest will be delayed" he said.

"What's happened to them?" asked the reporter for the Times.

"Levitated by the ankle, tickled, turned green and left to be collected by aurors I expect" said Gorbrin laconically "At least, those were my suggestions to my fellow prefects who are on guard to get the poor little brat safely to school without hassle."

"Well, best of luck to him" said the photographer "And I hope he's not a dunce because that WOULD be embarrassing."

"Oh he seems bright enough" said Gorbrin "His cousin is head of Ravenclaw House too so he has an older relative to turn to as well as bunch of sufficiently disreputable friends to get into harmless mischief with – like any other normal schoolboy. There's a good crowd of weevils this year; we prefects shall have to be on our toes!"

"Can we quote you?" asked the reporter.

"So long as it is a quote, the whole quote and nothing but the quote and not paraphrased and stuck out of context" said Gorbrin.

"The Times tries not to do that" said the reporter "Your dad would have our guts for garters if we tried."

Gorbrin grinned.

"There is that" he said.

oOoOo

The reporters were indeed dangling from one ankle, green, giggling feebly, and sporting a variety of tentacles or spider legs or pustules as the mood took those who had jinxed them, as Gorbrin came through with Kevin. The younger boy giggled.

"Can they get away with that?" he asked.

"It's not a forbidden area for wands as it's school property" said Gorbrin "And these were trespassers. Up to the prefects to do whatever is needful to subdue them; with probable interference from the likes of the younger marauders" he added noting that one of the reporters was dangling from the tail which took the place of his legs from the waist down and was silenced with langlock from a visibly forked tongue; and that almost had to be Lilith's work.

That little girl was ridiculously talented!

Kevin grinned.

"Nicely prepared, Malfoy; and that's to be learned too, preparation for anticipated shit happening."

"Exactly" said Gorbrin, who had been glad of the blood pulse to alert people to what was happening and equally glad that he had warned everyone beforehand.

As it was, the morning edition of the 'Daily Prophet' had held the headline 'Chrysogon Rufus is going to school!' with a photograph of the child in Diagon Alley with his cauldron and books and in his school uniform and robes looking charmingly wistful for the public, enough, as Veronica said when their set perused the paper, to make anyone puke who didn't know he was a right one.

"I can hardly moan about the image when the image pays the bills" said Chrys "It's what people want; so I accept it."

The 'Wizarding Times' held a more restrained story and contained a poem written by a pair of readers claiming that any idiot could write such twaddle and indeed this pair of nine-year-old idiots had and that this poem was about their infant niece. It went,

"Look, look, see how they squirm!

Erica Daphne is eating a worm!

Her games in the garden let no-one disturb

(Erica Daphne has pee'd on a herb)

With slugs so slimy, her valuable loot

Ready to tuck in dad's wellington boot

With flowers to behead and holes for to dig

And _engorgio _spells to make beasties too big.

Look, look, see how they squirm!

Erica Daphne is eating a worm!"

It was signed 'Avice and Alienora Malfoy'.

Chrys roared with laughter.

"They sound characters!" he said "Anyone know them?"

"I do" said Veronica "They're the sisters of the Malfoy Twins who teach in the free school; they are cute. Erica Daphne is the daughter of Abraxus Malfoy and Myrtle; the first ghost to be put back together. Erica has a twin too and an older sister but I guess Erica Daphne scans so well. She's two."

"Well that was about when mum started writing about me" said Chrys. "And I guess their poem is pretty true to life, rather than cutesified like mum's are; I shall write to them and tell them I enjoyed their poem."

"Do; and explain why your mum writes cute stuff too" said Veronica. "They're quite capable of doing scathing, cynical and Malfoy; but if they understand it's done for the need or money they'll be more sympathetic to the idea and not try – without realising the consequences – to make such fun of it."

"Some of it is actually really rather good" said Purnima "I bought a copy of each of the poems and the 'Fairywood Tales'; and I thought it was quite plain where your mum has had inspiration and a series of delicate and pretty thoughts and where she's cynically setting out to be cute."

"Well, I think so too; but lots of people don't" said Chrys "Thanks; I'm glad you like some of the stuff."

"There's some nice imagery; 'dewdrops on cobwebs strung, collars waiting to be hung about her necks of fairykind, for their adornment brightly shined' is just lovely" said Purnima.

oOoOo

The prefects meanwhile were voting; with new prefects like Miriam Moonshine and Norman Whitely of Hufflepuff's fifth asking advice over the correct protocol for such matters.

"Protocol" said Gorbrin "Is that one chooses to vote for the person who will be the best head of school, regardless of house loyalty or personal friendship. Your house head is a good friend of mine; and I'm NOT voting for him because he's had to work hard to overcome being labelled as a squib by his awful parents and to come to terms with the fact that he has now got a wand bought just for HIM – not a secondhand travesty that did nothing for him as before. And he wants to take a large number of NEWTs and show his parents up – as well as for his own personal satisfaction – and having to be head boy as well would be main unfair; especially as he'd put being head boy first. Personally, I'm voting for Lydia Snape because she's the steadiest and the most brilliant of the three marauders on offer and the most innovative and imaginative, which means she'd have the most imaginative approach to school problems."

"A thoroughly pellucid summation, as any Snape might put it" said Bella. "I can't argue with that, Gorbrin, there's some case for Mad or Leo; either one is capable. Well so's Albert but it ISN'T fair to ask it of him, you're right. But of the three I think Lydia slightly has it. Chad?"

Chad Fenwick was the other Marauder prefect in the sixth. Polly was not a prefect.

"Mad and I are perhaps a little….. volatile ….. by comparison to Lydia I guess" he said "And Leo is second choice."

"I have a lot of personal loyalty to Leo – and gratitude" said Gorbrin "He did a lot for me when I was new, and helped me deal with bullies. But when Lydia suggests, he jumps; as do you and Mad, Chad old boy. And THAT means a lot."

Chad nodded.

"Yes; you're quite right" he said "Lydia has the ability to lead in spades. It kind of developed quietly when Jade went off to Prince Peak. When Viktor was hurt it was Lydia who took over and told us what to do; and we followed."

"But she's not as good looking as Amadeo" giggled Porphyria Martin in Hufflepuff.

"He's just dreamy!" agreed her friend Deborah Summerby.

"Crumbs, who let the erumpants into YOUR top paddocks?" demanded Bella "You don't elect a head of school on looks, you eejits; TRY not to sound as though you sold your brain cell for a mess of chocolate frogs! Besides, let me remind you, Mad Lockhart is very firmly taken; Mei Chang saw him first!"

"Well he might grow out of so bossy a girl!" said Deborah.

"You are a pratt" said Ming Chang lazily "Mad and my sister are engaged. And he isn't going to even NOTICE you; because you two idiots didn't even join the MSHG and neither of you would be in with a chance if there was another Triwizard and most people like to wed someone of close to their own intellectual capacity. Mad is clever enough for m'sister; and you two don't even HAVE any intellectual capacity and never have had. I remember you being pratts all up the school and bullying Mel Bulstrode - yes it was bullying, it was more than teasing – for not being what you considered a beauty. And Mel prefers to be striking rather than pretty and have more than two thoughts to rub together not like you pretty little featherheads."

"Seconded" said Meliandra.

"Thirded and fourthed" said Clementine and Erica.

"I fear they have some justice in their complaint, girls" said Stoyann Krumm "You are a trifle superficial."

"Great litotes, Stoyann mate" said Ming.

"And THAT sort of reasoning of why choose one head of house over another is what gets us in Hufflepuff the name for being stupid" said Lillias Borage who was hiding disappointment that Albert had been chosen over her as head of house. "You will vote for whom you choose of course; but I do ask you to come up with a slightly more politically apt reason than on good looks!"

The two girls retired suitably squashed and voting took place.

And then the prefects retired to the comfort of compartments with their special friends for the remainder of the journey.

oOoOo

The Malfoy-Tobak girls and retinue picked up another weevil called Eugenia Beamish who determinedly informed them that she would have such friends as she liked and she wanted to get to know goblins so there; and extracted from her the tale that her great grandfather Oswald had campaigned for goblin rights right up to his death in 1932; and that some of their neighbours took delight in throwing garbage into the family garden and enchanting the flagstones to trip them up and such and she, Eugenia, was going to jolly well stand up for goblins but she would welcome a break from the neighbours being at school. Here she burst into tears and was firmly pacified and praised and invited into the MSHG.

"Did you pick us for the surnames?" asked Zelinn.

"I don't have a clue what your surnames are" said Eugenia.

Zelinn grinned.

"Well you've only picked on the most prestigious goblin families ever, unless you count Gringotts; we're Malfoy-Tobak twin and me, and Kreszi here is Kordach's daughter. So you invite us back for a few days in the hols and we'll settle your neighbours."

"With goblin magic? That isn't illegal?" said Eugenia.

"Heh heh, with muggle toys and tricks; and maybe some goblin clockwork too" said Zelinn "Right twin?"

"Every time" said Zakala "Or we let them insult us royally and make sure it's recorded on a bug-o-sneak and have daddy sue them every which way to Friday."

"I like that more actually" Zelinn pulled a face "Kinda keeps us in the right and them in the wrong and hits them where it hurts – in the pocket. Dad can ruin them enough to have to sell up and move somewhere less expensive so you won't be troubled any more; somewhere they'll HAVE to get on with goblins if they want the shopkeepers to serve them" she chuckled.

"You Malfoys ARE ruthless!" said Eugenia approvingly.

Meanwhile Michelle Makepeace had sought out Chrys for the sole purpose of having a go at him because his mother's poems degraded any fairy creatures like garden gnomes which was next door to disrespecting elves.

Her brother Colin dropped a langlock on her.

"Don't mind my sister, Chrys" he said laconically "She's a pratt of the first water and too stupid to realise that there's as big a gulf between an elf and a garden gnome, or a pixie or such semi-sentient creatures as there is between a human and a troll. I don't think she's yet realised that fairies are classified as beasts because they're only of animal intellect. Leprechauns are different of course and ought to be classified as beings not beasts; but as I recall the only story your mum wrote about leprechauns was of a group of them outwitting and stiffing a nasty miser who was trying to evict some poor but worthy young witch. And that's scarcely disrespecting them."

"Quite" said Chrys "And frankly, even if my mum HAD disrespected elves, intentionally or accidentally, I don't think that's any excuse for a second year to try to bully a first year; your sister is a rotten bully, Colin and if she doesn't lay off I'll report her for the same to a prefect."

"Hear hear" said Colin. "Y'hear that, Michelle? As well as being a known pratt, your hectoring tactics used on younger ones can now constitute bullying. So just get a life and learn that people would like you better if you met them half way and weren't so eager to find racism that you make it up when it isn't there. I got friends; you never will have if you don't grow up!"

Michelle went to slap him; and several wands whipped out to leave her covered in pustules and jellied at the knees that were on backwards.

"Nyou're a' raezcis's!" she howled painfully through the langlock; or at least that was what it sounded like.

"Excuse me?" said Veronica "Since when is it racist to stop a bigger kid hurting one of our fellows?" as malnutrition in her earliest years had meant that she was no larger then the half elf girl such a way of putting it was valid enough!

"I'll get Roger" said Colin, running off and returning shortly thereafter with Roger Blake who listened to the story.

"Michelle" said Roger "I thought you'd learned some lessons last year when you tried to sabotage that Zabini boy's exams by telling lies about him; I rather fancy if you start this early trying to bully little kids you'll find yourself expelled in short order, because Professor Dumbledore is NOT going to make allowances for you on grounds of race. The mums use Miss Thirkettle's stories and poems in the crèche because they have a good rhythm to aid learning. There's nothing degrading in any of them even if some of them are a little cutesy for my tastes. They're not aimed at kids our age anyway but at kids who are okay with cute; with a few sly innuendoes for the mums reading them to pick up on to keep THEM amused too. You are an unmitigated ass. You bring the rest of half elves into disrepute by your histrionics by making us a laughing stock; and if you don't keep a low profile I'll sick Mimi Snape onto you."

Michelle paled; the sarcastic and clever full blood elf could scarcely be accused of racism and Michelle had already lost several skirmishes with the girl.

She made several inarticulate noises that Roger took to be compliance and released her.

"And you were sorry for being unfair and a bully" he said.

Michelle flushed.

"I'm sorry for being unfair and a bully" she said sulkily.

She was almost as afraid of her brother in a rage as she was of Mimi Snape at any time; and Roger was angry. Roger wanted to fight slavery and injustice; and to his mind, one of the greatest bars to freedom for elves was those elves who refused to learn how to be free, and idiots like his sister who made loud stupid remarks guaranteed to make elves look stupid!

And he had spoken forcefully to Michelle on that subject over the holidays and was disappointed that she had not seemed to remember what she had sworn she had understood.

"I just want to get in some retaliation before anyone bullies ME!" she cried.

"The trouble is, my girl, that those who get their retaliation in first tend to be labelled bullies" said Roger grimly.

"I know a story," said Veronica, "of a boy who joined Slytherin House, having had some bullying on the train, and who joined a gang to make sure he got his retaliation in first. He was talked into becoming a deatheater through that; all to protect himself. Only HE was strong; HE broke away from the deatheaters and put himself into greater danger than any of the other members of the Order of the Phoenix because he saw how he had been used. Like you could be used, Makepeace; and you could be used quite cynically by people pretending to sympathise, getting you to shoot your mouth off; and using that as propaganda to show how loud but how hollow elves and part elves really were, that must then be enslaved to protect them from their own naïveté. But then I'm a cynic and I can see things like that."

"And that's pretty much what I was saying to you too, idiot!" said Roger wrathfully "NOW do you believe it when another kid can work it out?"

Michelle was aghast.

"You mean they might lie about what they believed in?"

"Crumbs, sis, are you really THAT much of an innocent?" sighed Roger "In the face of the evidence of our mums being lied to over having nice jobs for them that made that creep enslave them? You aren't fit to be out without a keeper you!"

Michelle ran off; and Roger sighed.

"Well one can hope it goes home" he said gloomily and without much conviction. "Keep me posted if she does try to bully people, Colin."

"Will do" said Colin. "At least you can choose your friends even if you can't choose your siblings."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Lilith was delighted to be going in the thestral drawn coaches and went to pet the thestrals in the coach she was to get into.

This unnerved those of her year who had not seen death; which was by far and away the most of them.

"Well now, Makepeace, don't you think yourself lucky not to have seen death?" said Gareth Rookwood rather maliciously when Makepeace started asking what Snape thought she was about.

"What do you mean?" asked Michelle shrilly.

"Only those who have seen death can see Thestrals" said Rookwood in a sepulchral whisper "And I guess if you can't see Snape petting the horses you are lucky enough to be more sheltered than her."

Makepeace paled.

"How come you've seen death then, Snape?" she demanded too loudly.

"How? Because I saw the battle for Hogwarts when Voldemort and his deatheaters and werewolves attacked" said Lilith "I wasn't supposed to, but I find it less scary to look trouble in its ugly face than to skulk out of sight and worry about mummy and daddy and my siblings. Then too I've been at Prince Peak when Odessa attacked; and been glad to see the deaths of the storm wizards who planned to have all the girl children kissed by dementors and allowed to grow up physically to be pure bred wombs for Odessa. 'Tisn't only elves that get enslaved Makepeace; it's anyone the truly nasty think they can get away with. I haven't actually killed anyone; I suppose that was what you were getting at, wasn't it, as you like to make nasty snide comments and tell lies about people?"

"No I didn't mean that!" flared Makepeace. "I was just curious!"

"Well I hope it brought you much joy to have your curiosity satisfied" said Lilith "Since I don't mind talking about it, for I've been encouraged to do so by my parents to help me deal with it. But I warn you, my girl, demanding to know such things, when the reason is the death of someone close, could be close to bullying for forcing an unpleasant memory. Just TRY to think before you open your mouth. Because the death of a parent or grandparent is infinitely worse than watching a werewolf one has never met howling his agonisingly slow way into death as he also painfully returns to human form with the slime and gore dripping from his entrails because someone got creative and threw the entrail expelling curse at him. Oh, had you had enough?" as Michelle fell back in horror.

"Your're a bad girl" murmured Sextus.

"She irritates me" said Lilith.

"Do tell" said Sextus.

The others who could see the thestrals were, unsurprisingly, those who had had the least sheltered upbringing; those who had dwelt in the Umbrous Alley complex were no strangers to sudden death, so Venus, Kazrael, Gennar and Maia Pleiades could also see the horses; and James Malfoy, who had seen his mother dead.

"Do YOU see them, Gareth?" asked Lilith.

He shot her a look.

"Not exactly; I think I could if I concentrated. It – it's at the edge of consciousness. With a family full of deatheaters, I fancy some unpleasant things happened when I was very small. I don't think I'm ready to remember them yet."

Lilith nodded.

"Let me know if you want any help remembering" she said "I can ease things out if need be, and as a friend I'd be there to help you deal with it. And if you prefer to never remember, I can probably blur the edges of your memory more so you just don't go there, 'cos some memories are bad like feeling around a chipped tooth with your tongue; you know it's going to hurt but you just can't stop yourself doing it."

"I guess you know that more than most" said Gareth.

"It's why I sort of legilimensed myself to clarify my baby memories" said Lilith "I like to look at the bogeymen and fears full in the face and growl at them; rather than quietly grow boggarts in my subconscious."

"Then I'll ask you to help me look at mine – but not yet" said Gareth.

oOoOo

The youngest of course went by boat; and Seth beamed at Hagrid. Now they were almost at the school he felt that hollow excited-scared feeling; which was silly because he already knew a lot about the school having been there for months as a ghost. But not properly IN the school, so the other ghosts would not know that yet another juvenile ghost had been cured of death.

The castle's lights reflected in the water like some submarine fairy castle, steady at first then flickering, breaking up and disappearing in the ripples caused by the boats as they approached.

"Crumbs it's big!" muttered Charles Tippet.

"More than two hundred and fifty pupils, dozens of staff, and more then a hundred elves" said Seth "And it's designed to house up to six hundred pupils like it did in its heyday before the wizarding wars created such mayhem. As well as accommodation for all those, there's classrooms and redundant spaces like secret rooms and passages built by the founders as havens in times of trouble."

"You're a walking encyclopaedia you are mate" said a tall boy with disconcertingly pale blue eyes in a pale face, that almost looked as though he had no iris at all. His hair was mid brown and in other respects he was utterly ordinary looking.

"It's all in 'Hogwarts – a History'" shrugged Seth "I sat down and read it thoroughly."

"M'name's Balthazar Kirke" said the boy.

"Seth Dumbledore" said Seth.

"Ah, and with such a name as that I suppose you know more than is written in the book?" said Balthazar.

"I don't think I know a lot more" said Seth "If my father told me everything, I'd not have the fun of finding things out for myself – secret passages and that."

They arrived at this point and Hagrid hurried them in, where the rest of the school was already seated.

The house ghosts were ready to greet them and offer luck. Seth gazed up at the Bloody Baron.

"I say, sir, thanks for watching out for me" he whispered "I hope you don't think it ungrateful but I HAVE to hope first to be in the same house my father was!"

"It is proper to wish such" said Sir Edward "If you are placed naytheless in Slytherin I shall be pleased."

The hat embarked upon its usual song.

"_Again is evil overthrown and all are feeling glad_

_and yet we should not drop our guard or we may yet be sad._

_Remember still in times of yore, four friends together strove_

_To make this mighty school their efforts on they drove._

_Said Godric Gryffindor I'll give the places to the bold; _

_Those who can fight for justice and have the strength to hold._

_Said Slytherin, my aim is clear, to choose those of ambition_

_Who'll strive within my aegis til their plans come to fruition!_

_Said Rowena Ravenclaw the clever ones I'll aid_

_Talent, panache and ability , but I'll not have the staid!_

_And then said Helga Hufflepuff the rest are in MY care_

_The ones who want to learn however little flair._

_And so the four friends worked to give with dedication_

_All the wizarding world a decent education._

_It is not only wizardry that you may learn within_

_But how to act together in the world that you live in_

_To take all you have learned and use wisely and well_

_Combating as you have to those whose hearts are fell!_

_Even those quite timid can still support the brave_

_Because together you are strong if steadfast you behave_!"

And then they filed up one at a time in alphabetical order.

Eugenia Beamish was the first to go; and she was in Slytherin in short order, to the mild surprise of some of the staff. Lavazka was sorted firmly as Black-Weasley – to the surprise of Magnus and Hector, but not to Leo who contrived to know most of what was going on – and went into Hufflepuff.

Annette Blake was next and it was no surprise that she was to be in Gryffindor with her brother! A girl called Estelle Bonham went into Hufflepuff; Narcissa Bobbin and Dionysia Bulstrode were both in Slytherin and Dionysia making a face at the Bobbin girl as she followed on her heels.

Then it was the C's. Bayard Chevallier was to be a Gryffindor like his sister; and if that was not greeted with enthusiasm, the Gryffindors did not show it. Niobe Cooper was a Slytherin like all her siblings and Isambard Cooper was clipped across the back of the head by Leo Weasley for saying loudly 'bang goes the tone of the place."

Walter Crabbe was next and took his place nervously under the hat. He grinned as the hat congratulated him on being free of all unpleasantness this time; and sent him firmly back into Slytherin house where his ambitions to make good would be nurtured. No surprise was to be found in Sibilla Crawford entering Ravenclaw and the cheer for her was partly for relief for their first weevil. Veronica Crouch was the last C and she was in Gryffindor in very short order!

There were several D's before Seth.

A boy called Tancred Dagworth was in Ravenclaw; Sebastian Diggory, Nancy Dippet and the Dixon twins were Hufflepuff.

Then it was Seth.

The hat felt odd on his head.

He felt his thoughts sought, checked; and the hat sang out,

"GRYFFINDOR!" with loud certainty.

Seth made his way to the Gryffindor table almost in a dream; and was cheered loudly.

And the sorting went on.

Of his group, Hasibul also ended up in Gryffindor; Purnima and Chrys in Ravenclaw. And both sets of goblin twins were split; Zelinn Malfoy-Tobak and Alrak gan Nork in Ravenclaw – to the delight of all the Malfoys, who started chanting 'We've infiltrated Ravenclaw' until frowned at by Professor Dumbledore – and Zakala Malfoy-Tobak and Hadjan gan Nork in Gryffindor.

Charles Tippet ended up in Slytherin because he wanted to follow Lucius Malfoy; and he would know people there in the persons of Colin Makepeace and Kreszi Kordach as well as Walter and Dionysia.

There was yet another set of twins – Seth, like Gorbrin before him wondered if four in Hogwarts and one in Rowan was a record – who were also split; to the chagrin of Priscilla Fawcett and her older sister Xanthia in Ravenclaw, Priscilla's twin Persis fetched up in Gryffindor. Persis looked quite content with the hat's decision.

Balthazar Kirke was also in Gryffindor, as well as Zakala's friend Odiza and two other boys, Joscelin Pye and Megarius Fox.

And then the headmaster announced that the choice of head this year had been as definite as had been over the last few years, and that Lydia Snape had been chosen with all but two of the votes.

"Lumme and we know which two pratts voted for style not substance" said Lillias Borage in contempt.

Lydia rose and went forward.

"Thank you for an overwhelming vote of confidence" she said "I'll try to live up to it. I'm not so talented nor so likely to set the world on fire as some of my siblings but I guess I'm the last one old enough to remember clearly being here for the battle of Hogwarts and so to interpret the hat's song that if we get complacent, it gets easier to let evil grow because, having fought more than we ought to have had to do, it's easy to pretend we don't see it growing. I don't say there will be more dark wizards of the calibre of Tom Marvolo Riddle, or Gerhardt Grindelwald; but if we maintain an attitude of er, constant vigilance, we can actually make sure none arise. Voldemort arose because nobody saw that he was trying to get a power base – nobody but Professor Dumbledore, that is, he being a great man. And Professor Dumbledore took steps to watch Tom Riddle which helped to prevent him having more advantages than he did. It is in unfairness and inequality that the clever, but morally and socially inadequate turn to the dark arts as a means of pushing themselves up by the means of trampling on others; and if some of you small ones have been asking yourselves 'how can WE fight dark wizards?' well you may do so by helping, all your lives, to try to remove any unfairnesses and injustices that are the breeding ground of such; and without any real injustice they can be seen as no more than whining little gits with an unfeasible hobby horse to ride. It doesn't stop them all; but if anyone starts on about some crusade to 'get more that life owes you' it's fifty galleons to Charlie's Aunt that they're out for what they think life owes THEM and anyone they drag along is just to be used. And even discarded if they stop being useful. Buzz phrases like 'for the greater good' hide evil in a lying phrase, suggesting that any and all means are acceptable. Even small weevils may listen for spurious rhetoric and pass it on to big people, no Colin I don't mean your sister, she's quite honest and honourable just a little fixated and mistaken in how she perceives things so put your hand down unless it was something else."

Colin put his hand down sheepishly!

Michelle scowled at him.

Lydia went on,

"Well that's the speechifying; have a good year and I'll pray for a boring one. Thank you headmaster" and she dropped a curtsey of deep respect to Dumbledore.

She got a rousing cheer.

Hadrian Malfoy had been the prefect who volunteered to see the new weevils to their dormitory; that was seven boys. Seth looked around them.

"Right you types, for those who don't know what a Rakshasa is I guess you're about to learn in a big hurry" Seth said

"I know" said Hadjan. The others looked on in incomprehension.

"Yeah, but you have a sister with several brain cells to rub together" said Seth. "And a brother in the fourth. So for those who haven't been so fortunate as to be told, a Rakshasa is a shapeshifter who assumes tiger form and must do so for eight hours every day."

"Merlin's toenails, you're not one are you?" said Balthazar in lively horror.

"He isn't; I am" said Hasibul. "Unlike werewolves, Rakshasa do NOT lose their intellect; I'm not about to eat anyone."

"Oh, okay" said Joscelin Pye. "That's cool."

"I can't say it is what my parents would expect for me; to share a room with someone diseased" said Bayard. Hasibul growled.

Hadrian stepped in at this point.

"Foolish weevil, a rakshasa is hereditarily a shapeshifter; not one caused by disease like lycanthropy. It is in certain parts of the world considered a part of certain noble lines; even as we Malfoys are distinguished by our pale skin and hair, slight features, and the ability to perform fey magic out of the ken of pure bred humans. There is neither disgrace nor any need for pity in what Hasibul is; he just IS. As we are all wizards."

"Well I suppose his condition will not trouble us any great deal" said Megarius Fox pompously.

"I – I am not acting according to logic" said Balthazar, breathing rather fast.

"You fear me" said Hasibul, bluntly.

"If I may make a suggestion, Mr Kirke" said Hadrian "I can perform a transfiguration on YOU, leaving your brain quite intact so you may feel what it is like to be a tiger; and if Mr Pradhan then changes also you will be of a size with him and not feel so intimidated. Once you are used to his other form, you will find it easier to deal with when you are in human form."

"I say, Hadrian, that's awfully clever" said Seth.

"I'll give it a try then" said Balthazar "You can really keep my thoughts intact?"

"No problem" assured Hadrian. "Ready?"

The younger boy nodded and Hadrian turned him into a tiger.

Bayard yowled in horror and leaped onto the nearest bed.

"Coward" said Seth in contempt "How did YOU get into Gryffindor? He's not even a real tiger part time!"

Hasibul changed next.

Megarius retreated and tried not to make it look like a retreat. Joscelin Pye regarded him thoughtfully.

"The head is bigger in relation to the body" he said.

"Full marks, Mr Pye" said Hadrian "The differences between a rakshasa and a natural tiger are fewer and less pronounced than between a wolf and a werewolf; it is generally thought that the being of a rakshasa came about because in primitive times, it was considered ritually significant for animagus tigers to er, exchange heritable material with ordinary tigers. Thus a rakshasa is a natural being which the werewolf is not, being the result of a curse. I wish I'd been able to fit in comparative magic as well but everyone has their limits and I couldn't manage more than ten OWLs. How are you, Mr Kirke?"

The other tiger was cowering with its hackles up; and Hasibul had not approached him. Hadrian turned Balthazar back.

"I'm sorry, but I can't!" gasped Balthazar "I know I'm a coward but – oh please change back!"

Hasibul shrugged into human form.

"You tried; that's not the act of a coward" he said.

"If you have a phobia, that's not cowardice but natural terror" said Seth. "P'haps Haz could show you himself a little bit – we could let you see him asleep for a while, then sort of half awake and showing the world his tummy until you got used to him?"

"I have been authorised to show those who will NOT share with a Rakshasa to another dorm" said Hadrian.

Bayard heaved a sigh of relief and Megarius tried not to look relieved.

"It isn't cowardice not to want to share with that – THING" Bayard said "But good common sense!"

"Well cowardice or not, it's extremely bad manners to call another member of your class a 'thing' and racist besides" said Hadrian "So I shall now introduce you to the prefect punishment for racist comments" and Bayard was hoisted in the air as a giant woodlouse wriggling feebly. "Well, you three come along" said Hadrian, using his wand to pull the woodlouse with him.

"I AM sorry Pradhan" said Balthazar.

"I hope it will not stop us having a friendship when I am not engulfed in a furry little inheritance" said Hasibul.

Balthazar managed a shaky laugh.

"That is a – an easier way to think of it…. I should have liked to have been friends with you boys; I hope we can. I will work to overcome it" he said.

The four boys left exchanged looks.

"Two daft and one unfortunate" said Seth "I guess if you come face to face with a phobia that's got to be hard. Hello Joscelin; we haven't really met you before, the rest of us know each other a bit, Haz and me are friends."

"I haven't got enough imagination to scare easily" said Joscelin.

"Well it means more room for the rest of us, anyhow" said Hadjan. "And now I suppose we ask if you object to goblins."

"I never met any goblins before" said Joscelin "I expect I am bound to be influenced by some stereotypes; if I make a wrong assumption, it's because of that, not any deliberate insult. I'm here for as good an education as I can manage to get – which I shall have to work for, because I'm not naturally very talented. I don't really care who I share my dorm with so long as it isn't a girl."

Seth chortled.

"Now would be a great time to say, 'so I suppose I'd better not let you in on my secret' then!" he said.

Hasibul poked him.

"Idiot" he said.

oOoOo

Veronica was settling in to her dormitory too; the only girl she did not know was Persis Fawcett who announced that so far as she was aware she had no vices and had never been accused of snoring.

"Oh well, I guess us half-twins have to stick together sort of" said Zakala "That's three sets split between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; I wonder if there's something in that. Though the Patil twins higher up the school are split the same way. My sister's a bit more academic than me; I want to have fun."

"I like a quiet life; and I didn't want to be in a house with my older sister Xanthia" said Persis "She'd push me about. Priscilla ignores her. Have you older siblings?"

"Heaps" said Zakala. "Actual blood sibs and step sibs. They're all pretty good about not interfering though. I've only got one brother in Gryffindor though, most of my brothers and sisters are in Slytherin including another set of twins."

"And I have two older siblings in Gryffindor, a brother in the lower sixth and a sister in the third who are pretty good" said Odiza "My sister's a Marauder; they interfere but only in a good way."

"And I" said Annette "Have one brother and two half siblings; one of the latter's in our year. Roger's in Gryffindor and he's cool but Michelle is daft. She's a Slyther anyhow" she added.

"And I have no siblings but Leo Black Weasley of Slytherin is my foster brother as his parents have reared me" said Veronica. "I guess the rest of us are lucky to have sibs who aren't a pain."

Persis shrugged.

"Well, in a different house I cannot be under Xanthia's thumb; and she is not a prefect for the fifth year, and she sulked much about that I can tell you!"

"Oh dear; a Ravenclaw's Ravenclaw" said Zakala "I say, is she one of the ones who's part of the notorious Quidditch Quarrelling?"

"Oh dear, is it notorious?" said Persis. "She has talked a lot about the way players are chosen."

"Ah" said Zakala "Well, there was a bit of a furore over Jack Murray – he and my brother had a bit of a shindy, until Murray lost racism and got common sense; they're more or less friends now, out of a shared love of quidditch. And there were some other girls who kind of had factions."

"That sounds like Xanthia" said Persis. "I can see her involved with factions."

oOoOo

Walter meanwhile found himself in a dormitory of only four; most Slytherin this year were girls. He knew two of the others, Charles Tippet, still bubbling that the hat had chosen him for Hogwarts not Rowan, and Colin Makepeace. The other boy was called Douglas Flint; and he looked thoughtfully at Walter.

"Well, Crabbe, you and I are from old wizarding families" he said "What say you we each pick one of the lesser types to fag for us?"

"I say if you even try we all jump on you and jinx you into a ruddy ball" said Walter. "And if you voice such views about supposed underlings, as a friendly warning, sooner or later a prefect's going to hear and you so are going to wish they had not. The standard punishment at Hogwarts for racism is to be turned into a giant – and thoroughly cognizant – woodlouse. Besides which, even if you ARE hard enough to overcome all of us three, Col has a selection of siblings including a much bigger brother to look out for him and I can't begin to guess how many Malfoy cousins Charles has."

Flint stiffened.

"Malfoy? My apologies er, Tippet, I thought you were mudblood."

"I AM muggleborn" said Charles "Which description I prefer. I'm also a Malfoy cousin; distantly. Mr Lucius Malfoy is sponsoring me. He acknowledges the connection to my mother. And if you ask me, suddenly changing your stance because I've important connections after wanting Col and me to fag for you is NOT the way to persuade me that you're a –a convivial person. So the rest of us are going to ignore you I guess – right Walter?"

"Spot on" growled Walter.

Flint shrugged.

"Suit yourselves" he said.

oOoOo

Chrys had a few more in his dormitory; being one of five. Ravenclaw only had ten this year. Alrak gan Nork, William Waffling and George Hitchens he knew; George was a friendly lad and Chrys looked forward to getting to know him a little better. Alrak seemed all right, a little pushy perhaps but as one of the first two goblins in Ravenclaw House he really had every right to be a little ambitious and pushy. Chrys had already decided that he did not like William that much; so he firmly bagged three beds next to each other for himself and the two he did like while he assessed Tancred Dagworth, who was holding forth about his need for music and the hopes that the other boys would not interfere. He seemed to think their needs would revolve around them.

"Word to the wise" said Chrys "Last Ravenclaw who though a whole lot of himself was Amos Leroy; who let it go to his head so much that he got himself expelled for his belief that everyone else was just there to admire him. Under such VERY recent circumstances I should have said that however musical you might be, keeping a low profile might be sensible; because all the staff and prefects so are going to leap on anyone who seems to be above themselves."

"And what can YOU know of the pressures of genius and fame? I'VE played in public you know!" said Tancred, sweeping a dolloping lock of hair off his brow in what he fondly believed was a romantically despairing gesture.

"Whoop-de-do" said Alrak "And none of us have ever heard of you; but EVERYONE has heard of Chrysogon Rufus and he knows more about handling fame than you do. And is he puffing off about it? No he flaming well isn't because he knows enough about the pressures of fame to enjoy the anonymous obscurity of being an ordinary schoolboy. Practise your fiddle by all means – when it's permitted by the rules – but don't ever think that the school is here to be your adoring fans. It ain't and we don't intend to be."

"I don't take cheek from a goblin!" sneered Tancred, horrified that Chrys WAS more famous than him.

"Then you can take jinxes from the rest of us who don't take cheek from a racist" said Chrys. "Dry up and concentrate on your schoolwork and scraping your catgut if you can't be a decent human being. I plan to enjoy my time at school; if you break into that enjoyment by being a git, I'll take whatever steps I feel necessary to curb your gittishness."

"OOOH I wish I was the son of a famous poet and able to make up words like gittishness!" teased George.

Chrys threw a pillow at him, laughing.

This degenerated into a pillow fight, even William joining in and forgetting to be depressive; with Tancred staying out of the way and saying ineffectually,

"I'll TELL' at intervals.

"Aw, go and tell then" said Alrak "And see what short shrift you get."

A pillow burst at that moment and Tancred howled that they were all in trouble and went haring off.

"Oops" said Chrys.

"Huh, that's easy" said Alrak "_accio_ feathers!" he directed feathers back into the pillowslip in a stream with his wand and held the ticking shut. "Sewing charm anyone?" he said.

Chrys obliged; that was one he did know!

And when Tancred returned with Filius Flitwick the boys were all tucked up in bed smelling of toothpaste with shining washed faces – from a quick and painful _scourgify_ for speed – and not a feather in sight.

"I do NOT like being dragged on a fool's errand!" squeaked little Flitwick "And if any mischief occurred it appears to have been thoroughly consensual and disposed of with dispatch and efficiency; no bullying in sight and four faces far too innocent to be anything but conspirators not victims. Do NOT try my patience Mr Dagworth; I have had enough of self opinionated fools, prigs, and idiot-savants. Go to bed and try to get a life!"

Tancred had little choice but to obey!

oOoOo

Purnima fared better with her dorm mates; she got on fine with Zelinn Malfoy-Tobak and Sibilla Crawford; Priscilla Fawcett seemed mostly harmless if a little hurt by her twin's defection to Gryffindor; and Eglantyne Rhodes, the fifth girl, said amiably.

"But think how much more fun to be twins in the hols with different experiences to discuss!"

"That's what me and my twin thought" said Zelinn.

Priscilla hesitated.

"Look here" she said "I – I have to be honest rather than hide things; I find goblins ugly and – and sort of distasteful. But – but if I have to share with you, I guess I need to overcome that; so if I ask questions it's because I want to know. And – and I take it as an omen that if I'm to share a room with a goblin it's because it's time for me to get over a distaste."

"Well, that's pretty big of you to be honest without being racist" said Zelinn. "I know a lot of people get a funny feeling about our long fingers; and maybe you had a negative experience with a goblin when you were small."

"I guess so; I don't recall our parents saying anything against goblins" said Priscilla.

"Tell you what; if I take the furthest bed from you, you can get used to me being in the room but not see me so much at first" said Zelinn. "My sister might have a hissy fit over this, but I think I'm a bit more imaginative than her. And I remember, before dad adopted us, we used to go into fits of terror every time we saw an adult wizard. You see, our first dad – who I don't remember – was murdered, and the fellow who murdered him took a delight in causing us more misery, getting us evicted, or finding some potty little regulation to get at mum under. When dad came along and found out what had happened he went as far as trying to kidnap a girl he thought was dad's daughter; 'cept he snatched the wrong one, because ERICA Malfoy has red hair and he grabbed a blonde girl. It took a little while to adapt to Lucius being nice!"

"You're one of Lucius Malfoy's stepchildren? Lucky you!" said Priscilla.

"Yes" said Zelinn "I AM lucky; but I have known grinding poverty too, you know. The changes to the law are going to take a generation or two to really bear fruit; and goblins are still going to be amongst the poorest and so they will tend to be greedy and pushy and out for what they can get. Which isn't actually terribly attractive. If you can manage to forget my race and be friends because we're friends not because you feel you ought to befriend a goblin that'll be good. If not, y'know we can be civil and go our separate ways."

Priscilla nodded.

"Yes; that seems fair" she said "I'm hoping as I get to know you I'll only see your personality and not your difference. I guess I'll write home and ask if I had a scary experience that involved a goblin."

"Cool" said Zelinn.

She had proved all she needed to prove – that she was clever enough to be picked for Ravenclaw – and was otherwise utterly comfortable with herself. Zakala was still just a little defensive; she'd get over it, and do so better for being separated without Zelinn having to protect her twin from life. Zakala OUGHT to see life in Gryffindor!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The first of September being a Friday, the school might have the weekend to get used to being back to school – or being there in the first place for the new ones.

Chanting was now a properly organised lesson and Quidditch practise and flying lessons – the first half of the term compulsory – took place on Saturday. It was soon apparent that Ravenclaw House was yet again to add to its depth; though first and second years did not, by custom, play in Ravenclaw's first team, it had enough good players to field a third team, almost. Gryffindor's captain, Sekunder Singh, cheered to have Zakala and Hadjan; and Lydia voluntarily moved to play beater to give the slight goblin children a better chance as chasers along with Sekunder's friend Oliver Harris. Sekunder was still seeker of course; and Damian Malfoy and Charis Rawlins completed the team.

The twins of the two new first teamers must be content with Ravenclaw's second team.

Meliandra only needed one more player for the Slytherin first team and picked the child Bryony Urquart who was happy to try as beater with Meliandra. Philip Burke explained dryly to the new girl that it was the Malfoy team since Gorbrin, Zajala and Nathan actually bore that surname and as Mel intended to wed Gorbrin that made her a Malfoy too. And Bryony grinned and said wasn't it just like Lucius Malfoy to marry a woman for her quidditch playing offspring. Gorbrin called her a brat with a friendly grin to accompany the insult.

Bryony felt no more concerns about not fitting in; she had been to one meeting of the MSHG and liked the kids she found there; and Gorbrin had been kind to her from the first. She played beater happily without thinking about her less pleasant relatives!

The Hufflepuffs had a fair if not brilliant first team needing no replacements; that Bethany Purbeck and Sebastian Diggory had some skill was handy for the second team, not out of any conviction that youngsters should be held back but because the team as it stood worked, albeit in a slightly pedestrian sort of way.

And after lunchtime on Saturday, the rest of the weekend was theirs to enjoy. The first years were shown where they might keep any hobby equipment in their respective common rooms, and most settled down to exchange information about their hobbies and to swap any collectors cards they might have.

This was not confined to Chocolate Frog cards of famous wizards this year; the Liquorice Bat company had brought out jellied dark creatures together with collectible cards of Dark Creatures and a rudimentary game attached to them by comparison of statistics. Lilith bit the head off a cola flavoured dementor and traded a Grindylow and a Pogrebin for a Kappa, a creature she had not yet got. She and her group had convened to the Hufflepuff common room because it was comfortable and the other Hufflepuffs did not complain the way Ravenclaws and Gryffindors did.

"Which is your favourite dark creature?" asked Sextus idly.

"What, as in real ones or in jellied ones?" asked Lilith, inspecting a raspberry flavoured pogrebin before munching on it.

"Sweeties, you prune; how can you have a FAVOURITE dark creature for real? The whole point of dark creatures is they're unlikeable" said Sextus.

"Well yes…. But one could have one who was a favourite to write about in exams, or was easy to deal with; like tickling pogrebin to make them stop exuding waves of depression. And after all I do rather have to like werewolves as I've go so many ex ones in the family."

"Which means they're not dark creatures, you baboon!" said Sextus.

"Well I think I like the sweetie werewolves most too… I kind of feel half guilty about eating them but they taste of Christmas cake and I do like Christmas cake" said Lilith. "What's your favourite?"

"I like kappa; it's really clever the way the fruit juice is kept in the depression in their head with magic so you can suck that out before you bite their heads off" said Sextus.

"I like the way erklings fizz" said Gennar.

"I like the way vampires are pale and pear flavoured on the outside and have strawberry sauce on the inside" said Kazrael "I like to suck them until it oozes out."

"I prefer to bite into them and then suck it out first and eat them er, desanguinated" said Jayashree.

"Yes, but you ARE a tiger" said Lilith.

"True, o best beloved" said Jayashree.

"I like banshees" said Venus "But then I like anything that's blackcurrant flavoured."

"They're a sight nicer than Bertie Bott's all flavour beans" said Sextus "You KNOW what flavour each one is going to be; no horrid surprises."

"Yes; I had a whisky flavoured one in the hols when Griselen passed them round, and spat it out in double quick time – YUK!" said Gennar "And the grown ups all said it was a waste of one of the few decent ones going to a kid who hadn't the palate to appreciate it; grown ups are weird. Give me dark creatures any time; and nicer than liquorice bats too."

"Oh I like liquorice bats" said Lilith "But I guess not everyone likes liquorice. I hope they extend the range of cards to dark and murkyish wizards."

"Why don't we write to them and send it by owl?" suggested Venus "The sweetie industry has to take notice of its customers which, I guess, is why they've branched out from liquorice. I say, what is the thing about every ten thousandth pack having a blueberry pixie in it and a voucher to exchange for goodies? Pixies aren't dark creatures are they?"

"Oh I know this one!" said Lilith "I reckon they have someone who was up with Harry Potter working for them; when they had Mad Lockhart's dad as DADA teacher he was a real drip and he couldn't even handle pixies, so it's a dig at him."

"What are the vouchers worth?" asked Sextus.

"They're a discount off a Foe Glass or if you collect five you get a free one" said Venus "Probably not a top of the range foe glass but I guess worth having."

"I guess they'd not be so hard to make" said Lilith "When I've learned a little more enchanting I should think I can make us one each if you really want one. A proper one is a full length mirror but I should think these are just hand mirrors."

"They are in the picture" said Venus "I gave my token to Eglantine; a madam makes a few enemies so I thought her need would be greater than mine."

"Jolly good idea" said Lilith. "You're right, it IS a cutthroat business; the Wizochip company have started giving away tokens with their mint choc chip and orange chock chip brooms and when you save up a thousand you can claim a free broom."

"I bet it won't be a Firebolt" said Sextus cynically.

"I think it's in association with the Nimbus company to help them combat the advertising of Firebolt's new racing broom and its association with Triwizard champions" said Lilith "You can't really miss the slogan for the company as a whole – 'four Triwizard champions can't be wrong, choose Firebolt as these discerning young people have done' because David may not have used his for the competiton but he DOES use a Milly for refereeing."

"I think for quidditch the Millenium Firebolt is superior to the Firebolt 200 anyway" said Sextus.

The talk turned to brooms and got occasionally heated.

oOoOo

Narcissa had been glad that Bella had been moderately docile about the choice of ball gown for this year – Bella had picked a silk that was graduated from wine red through to orange and had not so much as murmured about stripes – and Narcissa had hoped fervently that Bella was growing out of an obsession with things tigery.

She might have been less sanguine had she known that Bella had asked Dudley to take her up to town and show her the alternative shops; and that Bella's chosen apparel for the weekends was now decidedly alternative. And Narcissa would not have been much comforted to know that the styles Bella favoured would have raised eyebrows in the more conservative of the muggle community too.

Bella now possessed a large number of t-shirts – short and long sleeved – and hoodies featuring tigers, subsequently enchanted to move and purr or growl as appropriate. Bella particularly liked the enchantment she had come up with to make a tiger bite anyone – except Assim – who touched her more familiarly than she liked. She also had tiger striped tights, long orange and black striped socks, crop black jeans and short skirts and several t-shirts in tiger stripes designed to emphasise her full figure.

This Sunday she was wearing a sparkly tiger-striped t-shirt with short skirt, tiger tights and new rocks and wore her lustrous black hair in bunches like Abby on NCIS, a favourite program, converted to 16mm by the clever Casimir Malfoy for those of the MSHG who were keen to be aurors. The two fingered rebuke introduced by Severus for Krait and subsequent offspring was now becoming known as 'being Gibbs'd' and Jethro Gibbs was a favourite for his personality similarities to Severus.

Bella's group merely accepted the fashion statement as 'only Bella'. And Maud asked whether stripy socks came in other colours and where had she got the new rocks. Bella promised stripy socks for all her group for Christmas in the colours of their choices and went to wheedle Archie Trumball for the use of the internet.

Idling outside – it was too good an early autumnal day to waste indoors –they were vaguely discussing value judgements silly people made on appearance and Bella said this could be illustrated very easily, calling over Chrys Lockhart and Colin Makepiece.

"Observe these two weevils" said Bella "How would you choose between them?"

"You can't; they're both verminous by the nature of being weevils" said Drusillina.

"Chrys is tidier than Colin; is that what you mean?" asked Isabel.

"Observe, oh my best beloveds, the considerable size difference between them" said Bella loftily "Disregarding the shifty looks, beetling and animalistic brows and filthy mien common to any weevil."

"Oy, Black!" said Chrys.

"We might have to DO the fifth" said Colin.

"Quiet you" said Bella "Ah, I see I must needs explain."

"I know" said Mimi "We choose Colin."

"On what grounds specifically?" asked Maud.

"Because in size terms at least he's the lesser; and in any choice you should pick the lesser of two weevils" said Bella.

She was hit by a series of jinxes, including by the lesser and greater of two weevils and undid herself from tentacles, green skin and pustules giggling wildly.

"The rest of us apologise to the unfortunate weevils" said Drusillina dryly.

"Accepted" said Chrys, grinning.

oOoOo

The relatively peaceful Sunday afternoon was interrupted by a stream of foul-mouthed imprecations.

The smaller pupils were shocked as a large, ferret-like creature erupted from under a bush, shouting,

"Look at the lot of yer, idlin' about looking like sacks of shit tied up ugly, makin' the place look untidy! Dung, the lot o' yer, no-good stuck up hopeless little twits!"

"It's a Jarvey" said Veronica to Seth, who stared. "I expect he was looking for garden gnomes – they eat them – and we've frightened them all away by being out here so he's sore at us."

"What on earth is a jarvey?" demanded Seth.

"That is" said Veronica "They have foul mouths and worse dispositions; and whether it's because nobody even offered them the chance to be beings or not I have no idea; I don't even know if they're fully sentient."

"I say, I say, I say" said Lilith, also out with her group "What do you get if you transfigure a jarvey into a log cabin?"

"Oh Merlin, if it starts that way it's going to be some awful pun" said Walter.

"That's all right, we'll tickle her later" said Sextus Scarpin "Go on then Lil; what DO you get if you transfigure a Jarvey into a log cabin?"

"A rude hut!" declared Lilith, falling about laughing

There were collective groans.

"Actually funny as well as groanworthy" said Sextus. "Rather like the one when Salazar Slytherin released snakes onto the moor and told them to go forth and multiply; and they declared that they couldn't because they were only adders."

"Not as good as rude huts" said Jayashree.

"Wait up; I'm only half way through the joke" said Sextus "'Cos Slytherin was sorry for them, and made them rude furniture from trees he'd cut down to help build the castle here. And then when he came back a year later to the moor, he finds lots of baby adders; and he asks, confused, how come this occurred; and the big adder says, 'well now you have given us log tables"

The older ones groaned and fell about laughing and the weevils looked confused.

"Poor little innocents with no Arithmancy to their names" said Sextus with all the patronising scorn a second year might muster for the despised neophytes "You ALL bought books called 'Arithmantic Tables' to use in Arithmancy; using logarithms – log tables – means you can add up the log of two numbers and convert it back to see what the two numbers get multiplied to. With long numbers and such it's quicker than long multiplication."

"Oh, RIGHT!" said Seth. "Log tables – log-tables. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry; remember and learn" said Sextus.

"NOW who's a cad's cad?" said Lilith. They wandered off bickering gently leaving the jarvey shouting,

"Hey, what about me? Tellin' jokes instead o' taking abuse and criticism, it ain't right!" he got somewhat more abusive and then shouted "And you little rotters mmmphspplurrchchkeh!" and began foaming at the mouth as someone dropped a _saponify_ spell on him.

Hagrid turned up at that moment to pick up the creature by the scruff of the neck and firmly eject it.

The would-be weird Marauders had meantime collected Colin Makepiece and Lavazka Black-Weasley.

"Although we're already six in number we thought we'd offer you two the chance to work to being marauders with us" said Seth "There's a really good bunch in our year – with a few pains by the look of it, like Flint and Chevallier and that Cooper girl – but we sort of liked you two."

"Thanks" said Colin "Annette and I were thinking actually of joining the SAS – the Society against Slavery – that Roger started; with Kreszi and Dionysia, so there's a junior branch. Not disrespecting your offer."

"Oh that's cool" said Seth "Because that's doing the same sort of thing; the SAS are sensible types and don't try to oppress the depressed like your sister Michelle does."

Colin pulled a face.

"I can't give my sister a bad name because I don't know any words rude enough and that jarvey got silenced before I got to learn any" he said.

"Heh, she's what McGonagall would call a sleekit wee sumpf, from what I've heard from Lynx and Leo" said Veronica.

"I like that" said Colin. "Hey, Lavazka, if you don't want to Maraud, we'll have you in our gang if you like."

"What IS marauding exactly?" asked Lavazka.

"It's interfering to right wrongs and stand up for justice; not just freeing people from slavery though that would come into it" explained Seth "It's about learning all you can to be as good as an auror even if you don't become an auror; and getting into mischief as a means to learn stealth and jinxing in a sort of real situation to practice for when you go against dark wizards; it's about knowing when to sort out a situation yourself and when to report it to older ones or grown ups; and it's about trying to be like Harry Potter and co. Like Lydia and her group and Bella and co and Nathan and Lilith and their lot."

"You really want me? Even though I'm a bastard?" said Lavazka.

"Look, if you're in, we'll tell you all about our backgrounds and some of them are pretty wild" said Veronica.

"I- thanks, Colin, but I think I would like to support the Marauders; it was Bella Black who said I should use my father's name; and Seth and Chrys who made friends with me first. So count me in" she said firmly.

"I'll blow then so you can tell her your secrets" said Colin.

"Oh I don't think any of us mind you knowing" said Walter.

"That's decent of you; but I guess I'd rather not have you feel maybe uncomfortable later" said Colin. "We'll all work together for er, the greater good, right?"

There was laughter; and agreement!

And then the group started to fill in Lavazka on their disparate backgrounds until Walter said

"SHHH!"

The others turned to where he was staring as Niobe Cooper was sidling closer.

She smiled at Chrys and made eyes at him.

"Oh Chrysogon Rufus, I AM glad to be at school with you!" she simpered "I hadn't realised before just exactly who you were; you look SO different in uniform; and you weren't dressed in the least bit artistically at the party at Malfoy Manor!"

"Well one doesn't wear stage costume for real life you know!" said Chrys uncomfortably. "I dress up to declaim Mum's poems on stage because people expect it, you know!"

"And you look SO wonderful!" sighed Niobe "Oh PLEEEASE may I join your gang?" and she sat down beside him.

Chrys stared in horror.

"We're trying to be marauders" he said bluntly "Somehow I don't think you'd like it."

"I'd like ANYTHING to be with you!" said Niobe.

"Oh let the kid join" said Veronica "I think she's pretty brave to join in with a club dedicated to learning how to operate under the cruciatus curse; we've arranged to have the fifth form marauders cast it on each of us in a little while so we can find out for ourselves what it's like."

Niobe gave a little screech.

"You horrid girl! You're making it up because you're jealous!"

"No, she isn't" said Purnima calmly, blood pulsing Bella and co. "Here they come; ready to test us. Hey, Bella, we appear to have eight of us ready to take the cruciatus curse!"

"Enterprising brats to have so many" said Bella, glancing at Niobe and taking in the situation "Though I fancy it'll be a while before you can run twenty miles and then fight a duel at the end of it, and of course we'll start you on pogrebin before we conjure dementors for you to deal with."

"Sure; we work up slowly" said Seth.

Niobe shrieked and burst into tears.

"You can't let them treat you like that, Chrysogon Rufus!" she squealed "Come away from these horrid rough brats, you and I can form our own gang!"

"Cooper, I joined Seth's gang because I want to fight evil so my mum's pretty poems can be read by the innocent who don't know what it is to be hurt" said Chrys, white of face "Because I believe in fighting dark wizards. Just because I'm quite handsome doesn't mean I'm a lily-livered funk nor a wimp. You don't really want to be a Marauder; you're the kind Marauders exist to protect."

"Idiot" hissed Walter as Niobe flung herself on Chrys with a cry of

"Oh my protector!"

"Oh do let go of him, you have no clue how to wrestle properly if you're trying to strangle him" said Drusillina "You do it like this" and she neatly jerked Chrys from Niobe's grasp to put him in a head lock.

"Well, are you ready for the cruciatus curse or not, Cooper?" said Bella, getting her wand out.

Niobe fled.

"We're actually not either yet really, you know" said Veronica "But we thought it would get rid of her."

"We generally have a brief taster in the third in the MSHG if we feel able to try" said Bella, putting her wand away. "Crumbs, Lockhart, how did you attract THAT?"

"She's one of my drippier fans I'm afraid" said Chrys. "Thanks for the timely rescue."

"Oh well, anything for would-be marauders" said Bella.

oOoOo

Niobe went to inform on Bella Black and her other horrid big bullies to Madam Hardbroom. Connie listened to the sobbing child. The fact that the little girl peeped occasionally through her tear-bestrewn lashes to see how her tears affected her house head rather put Connie Hardbroom off. She had met Niobe's like before.

"My dear child, you have misunderstood utterly" she said heartily "The Marauders have permission, as they get older, to fight using the cruciatus curse in duels in order to learn better to counter it as they are the self-appointed guardians of the school against dark wizards; I too found it shocking at first. Volunteers too learn what the cruciatus curse feels like. This is not general knowledge since Marauding tends to run in certain bloodlines who are accustomed to be in the thick of fights against the dark arts and there is no point scaring children of other bloodlines. If Chrysogon Rufus Lockhart is desirous of being a Marauder he is but following in the footsteps of others of his ilk; and I must say I am pleasantly surprised that he is not the useless spoilt puppy of a child one might imagine from some of his mother's rhymes. I hesitate to say poetry. I suggest you leave the would-be marauders in the class well alone unless you have a problem you need them to sort out. They are full of harmless mischief and their grimmer aspects not usually manifest until they are older; and those are nothing to do with those who are NOT Marauders. The institution is supported by the Headmaster; it was introduced by the likes of Harry Potter's father, and Harry himself continued with the tradition. Now stop that silly crying; as I understand nobody has actually cast the cruciatus curse on you!"

"Black threatened to!" said Niobe.

"Indeed? Then I will speak to her about that; and find out if you misunderstood such as well; perhaps you might search your memory and tell me exactly what she said" said Connie.

Niobe flushed.

"She asked if I was ready for the cruciatus curse or not and got her wand out and pointed it at me" said Niobe sulkily.

"Not quite the same as threatening you with it, is it?" said Connie. "Now, how come this actually came up?"

Niobe burst into tears again.

"STOP that or I'll give you glumbumble juice to calm you down; you'll make yourself ill with such a ridiculous display" said Connie crisply. Niobe glowered at her; grown ups were supposed to be susceptible to the tears of pretty little girls.

"I only wanted to join Chrysogon Rufus' gang" she whined "And then they told me that you had to take the cruciatus curse to join and that Bella Black was coming to cast it on them and then she DID come!"

"I see" said Connie grimly. "In other words they decided to pre-empt the usual customs of the marauders of waiting until the third or fourth year to practise countering it in order to get rid of you because you invited yourself in without waiting to be invited; an extremely rude attitude! I take it you did NOT get an invitation to join them?"

"They didn't say I couldn't" said Niobe sulkily "And that Crouch girl said I could join if I liked and SHE was the one who said I'd have to take the cruciatus curse to join and it's a forbidden curse and she and Black ought to be sent to Azkaban!"

"If everyone was sent to Azkaban for saying things they did not mean it would overflow rather" said Connie dryly. "What a silly little girl you are to be sure to make mountains out of molehills! It was not a very kind way to get rid of a child they did not want to play with, but children are not always kind. Ah, Mr Lockhart, can you throw any light on this subject?" as Chrys knocked and came into her office.

"Oh lumme, is it yowling at you, Madam Hardbroom?" said Chrys in disgust. "Cooper came up, sniffing in while we were having a perfectly private meeting and asking if she could join my gang – and it isn't my gang, if it's anyone's it's Seth's; though I guess really it's Harry Potter's. And she didn't even wait for us to tell her to get lost but sat down like a bump on a log next to me and while I was wondering how to tell her to get lost in short enough words for her to understand, 'cos Isambard says she's as thick as a brick and with erumpant hide, Veronica comes up with the idea of scaring her off with stuff marauders do and Purnima sent a thought at Bella to get her to come and Bella played up most magnificent and cottoned on real quick so we frightened her off; so she could see it wasn't just some silly baby gang she could hang onto because Veronica was quite right because she isn't the sort of kid you can just say 'no' to because she'd hang around whining because she's pretty retarded and can't understand her own language."

"You may write me forty repetitions of 'courtesy costs nothing' for a most rude way of putting that, Mr Lockhart" said Connie serenely, agreeing wholeheartedly with the sentiments and not being prepared to admit that.

"Yes Madam Hardbroom" said Chrys "And please tell Cooper that if she writes a pack of lies to her parents because Isambard says she's the world's biggest sneak and not always bound by total veracity we WILL sue for slander. And get aurors in to legilimens us. We wanted to get rid of her from interfering with us because she's a pain. Sorry she's troubling you."

"There are perhaps kinder ways of doing it than that" said Connie "Perhaps you could have set some tough initiation ritual that all your set could perform that you might assume her incapable of; a stiff run and performance of certain spells at the end of it say."

Chrys brightened.

"I SAY, what a jolly clever idea! THANKS Madam Hardbroom; I'll bear that in mind if there are any more drippy twerps who are in love with my golden ringlets."

"You do that" said Connie, deciding not to take him to task for referring to drippy twerps. "And Miss Cooper! You have been somewhat hazed; as retaliation for your own rudeness and making of assumptions. I strongly suggest that you chalk it up to experience that other children do NOT like pushy little girls who interfere with their games and learn to make more tactful overtures of friendship if you wish to be invited into the circles of others. Mr Lockhart is going to apologise to you on behalf of his group for being somewhat out of line; one cannot blame Bella for thinking that the group as a whole was rather above themselves and asking if they – including, as she no doubt thought YOU – really wanted to go so far as the cruciatus curse."

"Oh I'm sorry if you were REALLY frightened, Cooper" said Chrys "But as you didn't withdraw after Veronica first said it was what we do, I guess we assumed you weren't really troubled by the concept. After all if you hadn't been a coward we might well have accepted you as one of us, but I guess you've sort of blown that."

"Thank you Mr Lockhart; a slightly qualified apology but an apology none the less" said Connie. "And, Miss Cooper, I do hope I shan't be hearing from your parents that you have written a garbled version of the events to them so they assume more than schoolchild games?"

"That Black girl is nearly grown up; she should be punished!" said Cooper.

"Bella never had any serious intention of casting the curse" said Chrys scornfully "As any fool might guess; she got her wand out. Bella NEVER uses her wand for serious magic!"

"But you HAVE to have a wand to do magic!" said Niobe.

"Not if you're any good at it" said Chrys. "Only the incompetent and half rate still need wands by the fifth form."

Connie opened her mouth and shut it again. It WAS rather part of the creed of the marauders.

Niobe burst into tears again.

"Niobe, open wide" Connie reached behind her for a big bottle of glumbumble juice.

Niobe's tears turned off like a tap.

"I'm not hysterical" she said sulkily.

"Good" said Connie. "I will speak to Bella Black; Mr Lockhart you may ask her to come to me. I am certain she has not exceeded her authority nor done anything out of line; and I am equally sure that if she HAS been out of line she will tell me and apologise to you. Miss Black has considerable integrity."

oOoOo

Bella listened to Connie asking her for an account of the afternoon's events and laughed.

"Oh the looks of outrage on the faces of those baby would-be marauders at that brazen little interloper were just priceless!" she said. "I think it was Veronica who came up with the idea of saying they took the cruciatus curse; and we ARE licensed to cast it on other marauders; Draco signed us a pass this last hols for the purpose of extra curricular DADA practice. And I swear those other kids would have taken it just to scare her into going; I know implacable will when I see it and at least three of them know pain and would have taken it without a murmur! And I should have cast it on THEM – at least, on the two who are already blood group so I could feel what I was casting from them – if she hadn't blubbed and hoofed it. You haven't seen her in Diagon Alley every year, Auntie Connie; we HAVE" she added "She wraps her parents round her little finger by turning on the tears; and she was clinging to Chrys like she was drowning, the poor kid really needed rescuing; he's managed not to be an Amos Leroy though he's got as much adulation as the Caterwauling Crow ever had, if not more! He doesn't need silly ass kids who want to treat him like some overfed crup at a show and pet his ickle darling gowden cuwls poor brat"

"I WISH you wouldn't call me Auntie Connie in school" said Connie in exasperation "Especially when I have you on the carpet!"

"Oh, do you? I wasn't aware I'd done anything wrong" said Bella. "Was it then bullying to play along with the brats?"

"It was a little close" said Connie.

"Oh, I'm sorry then" said Bella "I s'pose I see more of the prima donna in her than in Chrys and kinda want to try to rub off her corners quick while we have time so she don't grow up like Amos Leroy. And sort of remind her that there's people who do more important things in life than run yowling to their mummy when the whole world doesn't kow tow."

"Your slang is excruciating" said Connie "And WHAT are you wearing?"

Bella pirouetted and posed.

"I LOVE muggle gear!" she said "ISN'T it tigery? And fetching?"

"It's almost indecent" said Connie "RATHER a lot of leg showing."

"Well it's covered with tights" said Bella. "It's not so short a skirt as some muggles wear and at least I didn't pick a top that shows my belly; and the shopkeeper laughed at me and called me a prude and suggested I should have my belly button pierced and put a ring in it. Yuk!"

"Well at least you aren't THAT shameful!" said Connie, shocked "WHAT are muggle mothers about, letting their daughters do things like that?"

Bella shrugged.

"Dunno. Reckon we're a bit too fuddy-duddy and muggles are a bit too permissive; but we can pick and choose what we like of their stuff without going so far, can't we? Do you want me to apologise to the brat?"

"I told her you were probably being heavy handed at a young group for getting above themselves and thinking they could take the cruciatus curse early" said Connie.

"A bit of a casuistry from YOU O best beloved?" said Bella.

"Don't you Kipling at me young lady" said Connie. "That's what I said; and if it was casuistry then it counteracts the fact that she's probably the sort who tells lies to her parents that she is convinced is truth from HER perceptions."

"Oh yes, Isambard says she's the world's biggest sneak and tells porkies" said Bella. "I'll be noxiously nice to her."

"Thank you" said Connie.

oOoOo

Bella swept in on Niobe.

"Oh Cooper!" she said "Sorry I made a mistake in thinking you were one of the stupidly brave ones like your brother – these things so often run in families you know, so you must forgive me for making assumptions! Isambard's waiting a year to resist the cruciatus curse but I know some kids like to outdo their older siblings. I wasn't actually going to cast it on anyone you know; I just wanted you lot to reflect the seriousness of what had been thoughtlessly suggested, and I assumed you were with them. I know how scary it can be; a big boy cast it on me when I was older than you because he didn't like a jape me and my friends pulled; only he did it to be nasty not out of a desire to strengthen fighting powers. Forgive?" and she held out her hand.

Niobe stared.

"If you don't shake I so am going to scrag you!" whispered Isambard "A big girl like that being so unbending – and telling you about her own experiences!"

Unwillingly Niobe shook.

"There's a decent kiddy" said Bella. "If you want to watch some of us big ones fighting no holds barred, you should come along to the MSHG; we let fly, some of us, there without constraint because we have auror- issued licences to do so. But NEVER on the unwilling; and usually only amongst the fifth and sixth. We teach you little ones the shield charm and how to counter jinxes and things; and we usually finish with cocoa before going in to breakfast."

"You do stuff before BREAKFAST?" Niobe was horrified "But there isn't time between the rising bell and going in to the Hall!"

"Oh we rise at five thirty to run and exercise and practise; it's very jolly!" said Bella heartily.

Niobe shuddered.

Bella stifled a sigh of relief that they were highly unlikely to be saddled with HER in the mornings; and yet nobody could say she had not been kind and helpful!

People like Niobe were awfully difficult to deal with; she was so wet!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

As Bella had invited Niobe, Kreszi thoughtfully woke the girl up and told her that it was time to get up.

Niobe sat up straight.

"I missed the bell?" she said

"No, it's time for the MSHG run" said Kreszi.

Niobe slapped her.

"You rotten goblin bitch, how DARE you bully me by waking me up at such an hour? I'll tell on you!" she burst into noisy sobs.

"Well if you tell on me for trying to be nice to you because you were invited by a big one, I'll explain you used racist language and assaulted me physically" said Kreszi.

"Crumbs, Cooper, you're braver then I thought!" said Bryony Urquhart "Hitting the daughter of Kordach, one of the most powerful men in the wizarding world! Your parents must be so proud of you that you don't care if he ruins them economically just to stand up for your racist principles!"

Niobe cried in real earnest then; and the four little girls in the MSHG left her to it, whereupon it may be said that she was herself slapped by both Narcissa Bobbin and Tilly Warrington, a part leshy girl, neither of whom liked being woken either and blamed Niobe for the row she was making.

"Oh leave the kid alone" said Clarice Murdoch, who had not yet decided whether to join the MSHG or not "She can't help being a drip; she ran foul of Ravenclaws yesterday remember. And everyone knows Ravenclaws are snide."

"I only wanted to get to know Chrysogon Rufus!" howled Niobe.

"You're right, Murdoch; a total drip!" said Narcissa Bobbin in disgust. "Keep your unnatural perversions to yourself, Cooper."

Niobe retired under the covers to sulk. And Clarice, being fully awake now, dressed in a hurry and ran down to join the MSHG people because she might as well.

Of such things are life decisions made.

oOoOo

Niobe looked pretty awful at breakfast, and the would-be weird marauders came up to her.

"Look here, Cooper, I'm sorry I really upset you" said Veronica "I only wanted to show you that our gang is more then a gang, it's about fighting dark wizards; 'cos I didn't think you'd be up for it. But we didn't mean it to be a rag that would really upset you this much."

There was a chorus of assent from the others.

"We know that people who mean well can bully by accident" said Seth earnestly "And we reckoned that we'd been too hearty at you. We don't want you in the marauders but we will look out for you – for anyone that needs it."

"Well why don't you get that rotten gobbo brat that woke me up then?" said Niobe.

They gazed on her, shocked.

"Look here, Cooper, using racist language like that puts you into the wrong straight away" said Chrys "And I suspect if anyone woke you it was to invite you to the MSHG in the hopes that it would help you make friends and be happier. Two of your siblings belong after all; Ashleigh and Isambard. You've been slapped I see; but it's not the mark of goblin fingers."

"It was Bobbin and Warrington because I was crying" sulked Niobe.

"Well we'll keep an eye on them then" said Walter. "Look, Cooper, I'm here on a fresh start because I came to school unaware I was under a curse and I behaved badly; I got cured. But though it's not comparable, you're making yourself unpopular by whining and crying like a baby; and sooner or later, tears WILL attract bigger types who are bullies. It's best to try to be a bit more cheerful you know!"

"Oh like that Black girl?" said Niobe. "She's a real bully!"

"If you think Bella is a bully you ain't never met any" said Veronica scornfully. "Bella is well decent!"

"AND she apologised – in PUBLIC – for scaring you!" said Walter. "That's way decent of any prefect! She's a prefect because she goes out of her way to help the little ones you know!" he had learned this from Nathan.

"She doesn't want us to try to be decent to her at all" said Purnima in scorn "She just wants to wallow in misery without going half way to meet anyone. You were so right, Chrys, to want to escape her."

"Cooper" said Seth "You're cutting off your nose to spite your face. I wish you'd let us help you; you can't surely LIKE being miserable; we've apologised for upsetting you, and explained why some of the things you say are so wrong; can't you try to help us help you?"

"I HATE YOU! YOU'RE ALL BULLIES!" screeched Niobe.

They fell back as though slapped.

Madam McGonagall came over.

"WHIT is going on here?" she asked.

"Please Madam McGonagall" said Seth "We were apologising for ragging her a bit hard yesterday and explaining that she just can't SAY racist things and trying to get her to help us to help her be cheerful. We weren't bullying her, honest; but she has some peculiar ideas."

McGonagall might be wary of any gang that included Walter Crabbe and the Boy Wonder Chrysogon Rufus; but she had met the Head's adopted son and found him a solemn and serious child who put her rather in mind of David Fraser.

"Miss Cooper" said the transfiguration teacher "I fancy that if ye've been using racist language you are likely tae come in for some forceful criticism; and bear in mind that if any prefect or staff hear such ye will be in trrrouble. A staff member will give ye a detention and it has become trradition that the prefects use a safe and well-practised transfiguration as a means of discipline. If ye have anything tae say in mitigation or any specific charrge o' bullying I'll listen."

"You're all on their side because you teachers all like to use these marauders to do your dirty work fighting dark wizards so they can get away with anything in school!" declared Niobe.

"Lumme you pratt-wallah, you have done it now" said Hasibul.

McGonagall stared briefly; then she gave Niobe the benefit of her full attention in her opinion of nasty little girls who jump to erroneous conclusions – the r's in erroneous rolled like thunder – over the staff's attitude to the marauders, who, after all, generally got punished harder if caught at mischief, and who might be in training to fight dark wizards but that the staff did not in any way have to approve that there had been fierce enough attacks from Odessa and Voldemort that those younger than adults should have to should have had to join in the fight. She verbally excoriated the girl for daring to impugn the honour and courage of the staff and condemned her to five detentions over the next week writing out 'I must not be a rude little girl'. McGonagall had never liked the involvement of the marauders and was still somewhat chary of the idea of the blood group; but that it had worked wonders she could not doubt. If this group were would-be marauders, the cure to Crabbe had been as Albus had said complete; and she was not about to have his fragile balance upset by a silly child who had no idea what she was talking about, having never, Minerva suspected, met even bullies, let alone dark wizards.

Niobe was sobbing in earnest and not merely for effect when McGonagall let her go.

Purnima carted her off to the loo to clean up.

"Well WE meant well you eejit" she said "And I'm not going to add to the lecture about it being your own silly fault; 'cos I guess you know. I'm going to ignore you after I've helped you clean up because you can't do civilised."

Niobe muttered something about that suiting HER; and the first went on their way to lessons more or less perturbed.

oOoOo

The first lesson was flying so they were able to let off steam somewhat.

The second lesson was Divination; and only Narcissa Bobbin managed to find any chocolate frogs at all with divining rods; and most were not even sure what horoscope sign they had let alone what it signified. Niobe Cooper was keen enough to pursue the use of omens and explained that she was Wednesday's child and could not help being full of woe, which led to hoots of derision from several others born on Wednesday.

Madam Spikenard sighed inwardly.

In not one of these, save the Bobbin child, could she detect the slightest spark of ability. Hasibul Pradhan had some potential but he was equally plainly fairly uninterested. She might perhaps suggest to him that some prediction ability might aid marauding – she was fairly sure which ones had chosen that path as always – and see if he would choose to develop the small talent he had.

Since his opinion of both Narcissa and Niobe seemed low, however, she somehow doubted he would wish to share a class with them.

It was the way it went.

oOoOo

Minerva McGonagall sought out Ashleigh Cooper in the break. The oldest member of the family was a prefect in the upper sixth.

"My dear, whit is wrong wi' that wee sister o' yours?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing a damn good spanking wouldn't cure" said Ashleigh. "She's a spoilt brat who knows how to turn on the waterworks and it seems to impress the parents."

"Is she the youngest?"

"No Madam McGonagall; there's two that come after her. Naomi comes up next year; and Virgil's the baby, he's only eight. He loves hearing about Lilith Snape" she said "Because she isn't much older than him. He's the baby but he really IS cute. And Naomi's a nice kid. It all started when my uncle was running that awful feud against us and wanted to turn us into blood-sucking ferrets; Niobe had a load of really bad nightmares, and you have to be sorry for her about that; and mum and dad made a lot of it and rather spoilt her and it became a habit. And though our uncle has a heap of injunctions on him and can't actually approach us, she still plays on it rather. I'm the one that should worry, because as an adult I'm free from the protection so if he decides to murder us all to get the inheritance I'm first on the list; but I reckon I can handle a second rate magician like Uncle Buckley."

"Yes, Ah ken fine yer uncle and yer faither too" said McGonagall dryly "Yer Faither wis a hard-working lad and Buckley was a wee sumpf wi' delusions o' adequacy."

Ashleigh grinned; and McGonagall reflected what an improvement friendship with sundry marauders and MSHG people had wrought on her.

"What's she done?" asked Ashleigh.

"Weel, apart frae accusin' the staff o' lettin' the Marauders dae ony thing they like in rrreturrn for fichting dark wizards for them, she's got a strrange idea o' whit constitutes bullying" said McGonagall "Like being invited tae the MSHG as I understand."

Ashleigh sighed.

"I'll speak to her" she said.

"No; I'll dae it masel' since I now ken whit it is that startit it" said Minerva. "May I pass this on to others in her own year?"

"If you think it'll help her be a decent human being, please do, Madam McGonagall" said Ashleigh.

oOoOo

The first, blissfully unaware of this, had their first lessons in Arithmancy and Enchanting before lunch; Veronica shone in Arithmancy, as did Charles Tippet, delighted to find something he might excel at; and Chrys found himself entirely out of his depth. He was not alone. Purnima had no trouble, though it looked as though Veronica, Charles and Ravenclaw's Eglantyne Rhodes were the class stars with Walter, Kreszi and Odiza coming a close second to them. Odiza surreptitiously helped her friend Zakala and Bethany Purbeck won a comment from Madam Vector that at least she seemed to have her brother's solid ability at the subject. Annette Blake too seemed competent and helped out her half brother Colin.

Enchanting brought Zelinn to the fore, and Ruth Dixon showed some talent too; the rest were none of them dunces but Professor Dweemer could not see any save Zelinn and Ruth taking his class far!

The would-be marauders found themselves summoned to McGonagall's office before lunch and Niobe gloated that they were in trouble.

Searching their consciences, and finding them clean enough – as Hasibul said they had hardly had TIME to get into trouble yet – they presented themselves more in curiosity than trepidation.

Madam McGonagall smiled austerely.

"Ah've a wee story fer ye" she said; and proceeded to explain about the origins of Niobe's tears.

"This Buckley Cooper sounds a nasty character" said Veronica.

"Aye; he is that" said Minerva.

"So you want us to be understanding and kinda help her knock the corners off even though she snubs us for trying to help, Madam McGonagall?" said Seth.

"It's wha' Marauders are supposed tae dae" said Minerva.

Seth pulled a face.

"Well, we'll try; but if she calls bully on us for trying to be nice, what do we do?"

"Smile at her" said Minerva "And be nicer."

It was a tough imposition, as the seven all agreed!

They went to Isambard, a proper Marauder, for advice.

He hooted with derision at first, then stopped, thought and said,

"Yeah, well, it is a rather worthy goal; I only see her as a pain that's always getting me into trouble even when I don't go out of my way to rag her; and I only started ragging her because she got me into trouble whether I did or not."

"Y'know, would it help if you told her that?" said Seth "And ask if she wants to make a fresh start now she's at school, big enough to stand on her own feet and to stop trying to manipulate people with tears since it don't work?"

"I guess I could try" said Isambard. "After all, she can't hate me worse than she already does."

To those who had siblings this was a shocking concept.

"Surely she can't HATE you?" gasped Seth "Your own SISTER?"

Isambard shrugged.

"Reckon she hates everyone; like Uncle Buckley does" he said.

"Well why don't you tell her she's just like your uncle then?" suggested Hasibul "It may shock her into realising what a ridiculous creature she is making of herself."

"THAT's a pretty brainy idea!" said Isambard "Reckon I'll do just that!"

oOoOo

Niobe listened sulkily as Isambard told her that he had started ragging her because as she told lies to get him into trouble he had thought he might as well have something to be punished for; and asked if she had grown out of that and wanted a fresh start at school.

"You bully me" she said.

"You called bully on me when I tried to help you get dressed when you were younger and wouldn't help any so your hair got pulled on the buttons" said Isambard "You don't know what bullying is; even when I HAVE ragged you, it's not like the ones who twist your arm and push you in the face to steal sweeties or put the _levicorpus_ spell on you and comment on your underwear whilst casting the stinging hex at you. You are just like Uncle Buckley, you; 'cos he reckons that sharing isn't good enough, he wants it all. You never liked sharing either; and mum and dad are at fault too for turning you into Uncle Buckley in miniature. You got a chance to change; and accept help from me, and from the kids in your own form that asked me for advice about how to help you; which is pretty damn decent of them as you've tried to cause them hassle."

"They were rotten to me when all I wanted was to get to know Chrysogon Rufus!" wailed Niobe "And he's rotten too!"

"Oh? Y'mean a big girl like you went all gooey at him and he didn't like it; sort of like when you pushed Virgil over and hurt his arm because he hugged you and you got your dress crushed, and oh wait, Virge was only seven at the time because he's only just turned eight and that's less worse bullying OF A LITTLE KID than verbal ragging? Come off it, Niobe, I know you – you pushed in and clung to the poor kid who's trying to be a normal schoolkid and coo'd at him and embarrassed the hell out of him. Any other gang would have slapped you around a bit, jinxed you into a ball and left you to be rescued by a prefect. But that lot try instead to show you WHY on so many levels you couldn't cope – as you are, anyway – with being Chrys Lockhart's friend. YOU have a chance to grow out of it and NOT become like Uncle Buckley; but I can't talk to you any longer without losing my rag, so I'm going to walk away. Try to reflect on what I've said – with a remarkable level of altruism since I don't much like you – and see if you can't try to change."

Niobe had a fit of temper – which Isambard ignored and walked away from – and finally, finding that howling did NOT attract any sympathy, fell into the sulks.

Walter Trimmer asked Isambard rather officiously what he was doing to make his sister cry so; and Isambard said,

"Trying to help her overcome being spoilt so she doesn't completely wreck her chances to have a happy time at school and if you interfere and bully my sister by trying to stick your ignorant and silly oar in, I'll make sure you look so ridiculous that you'll never live it down you creep!" with such vehemence that Trimmer fell back and decided it was nothing to do with him; which it is to be said was something of a first!

Isambard strongly suggested leaving Niobe alone to the first year would-be marauders, until such time as she was ready to come round; and they watched from a safe distance whilst appearing to be indifferent.

They would, it has to be said, have liked to have been indifferent; but Minerva McGonagall had laid a task upon them and it was one way to prove their marauding status as well as being the right thing to do!

Ashleigh Cooper wrote to her parents and said, rather bitterly, that although they had refused to believe five of their six children about the mischief making of Niobe perhaps they would believe the fact that she had gone out of her way to try to get the children in her year into trouble – not entirely true from the onset, but how Ashleigh perceived it – and that if they found themselves ostracised by the Malfoys, the Crouches, the Black-Weasleys, the Bulstrodes and sundry others they would know who to blame; and added that she had heard Niobe likened to Uncle Buckley in her behaviour, which being so, doubtless HER. Ashleigh's, children, when she had any, would be threatened by their aunt and their parents wondering why in the same way gran and granddad wondered why Uncle Buckley was so nasty.

As Connie Hardbroom also wrote to ask if there was any problem in Niobe's background that made her such a sly and nasty child with such a lack of veracity, and had she perchance been given a cursed book the way the Crabbe child had been, the Coopers were taken aback and went to the school forthwith in real concern.

Connie was uncompromising; she admitted that Niobe had received a ragging – which her behaviour had brought on herself – and that an apology from the raggers had been treated with insolence. The Coopers were forbidden to speak to their daughter, this being school policy not to upset any children while they settled in, and Connie extracted the story of Buckley Cooper, whom she had not known, and was blunt about parents who carry petting over problems into spoiling. And, as she pointed out, the other Cooper children were good scholars and as well behaved as any – a bit of a prig in Rowland's case and an imp of mischief but with no vice in him in Isambard's. The Coopers asked what to do about it; and Connie suggested a little healthy neglect and gentle teasing that a girl as big as Niobe shouldn't be crying over any little problem might help.

Niobe noticed her parents leaving and went to have a histrionic confrontation with Madam Hardbroom over why they had not been to see HER.

"It is school policy, unless there is a serious problem, not to permit parents near their offspring in the first term" said Connie "And as you are only a problem, not a serious problem, that was not necessary."

"It's not ME that's the problem, it's all those rotten brats!" said Niobe.

"My dear child" said Connie "Don't you rather think that a child who considers that the fault is that of EVERYONE else is displaying an unseemly amount of self-centred self absorption that is both unhealthy and unpleasant? I do NOT condone the level of ragging that little group did; and Bella was mistaken in her approach, as I understand she acknowledged to you. But I think that you should examine your own behaviour from an outsider's point of view; and I have asked an expert to help you with the Pensieve."

She rang a little bell, and Lydia walked in.

"I'm not wearing an official hat, Niobe" she said "So I'm not being head girl to see this officially. But this is serious; my friend Ashleigh doesn't deserve to have her NEWTs upset worrying about you."

"She doesn't care; all my siblings hate me" said Niobe.

"If you've got into the habit of screaming for mummy over any accidental harm let alone mild ragging, as I'm given to understand you do, I'd not be surprised if they DID dislike you" said Lydia dryly "But I've had Ashleigh crying over me that you've been spoilt to a point that you're like a deatheater and she doesn't know her little sister any more and she wishes she had the sort of relationship I have with my little sister Lilith; who is a demon of mischief but has no ill-will to her name. And as she recruited Chrys Lockhart and some of that lot to be Marauders, I trust her judgement you know; and they're basically decent kiddies. Now let us explore your memory of that and see how much it makes you squirm; because if Ashleigh wants her little sister BACK I'm guessing you were a decent kiddie before you started being spoilt."

Niobe scowled; but she could not really brook this.

Lydia drew strands of silvery memory out of Niobe's head and laid it in the Pensieve; then took Niobe by the hand to plunge her into it.

Being able to see the looks of horror and nausea on the faces of the group she had gatecrashed was a shock; and seeing her own insistent determination to join them a revelation. Niobe did squirm. Lydia watched the look of revelation on Veronica's face, and pointed it out.

And Niobe's insistence that she lied.

"And, my good kid, if you had QUESTIONED that it was done so young they might not have gone any further and told you that it was merely what awaited in the future" said Lydia "They were young saps to get caught up in it; and Bella a big sap to let them bamboozle her into rescuing them from you. And, y'know, seeing if you were willing to try might have been their form of initiation; you can't pass a huge amount of information with a telepathy spell, Bella had to work on guess. Being willing to take it would probably have got you in, actually; though Bella wouldn't have cast it. She knows too much about taking it; and I don't just mean in the testing. Bella REALLY knows about being hurt, and how and why is none of your business, my dear kid. I think we need to look back at some of your earlier memories, about how this all started; you're excused tea, Madam Hardbroom will ask elves to bring tea into her office for you a little later."

"I have a detention with old…. With Madam McGonagall" said Niobe.

"Glad you modified that" said Lydia dryly "That DISGRACEFUL speech you made to her shocked everyone and had your siblings almost dying of shame; and Madam McGonagall has given leave for you to explore the Pensieve in lieu of one of your detentions because I cleared it with her. She planned to talk to you herself but as Madam Hardbroom had written to ask your parents what made you so stroppy, she has ceded that to your House Head. They have had a long talk."

Minerva, seeing the arrival of the Coopers, had joined Connie and Connie discovered she might have found out some of what she wanted to know from Ashleigh and Minerva and had felt briefly a fool until Minerva apologised for leaping in with both feet after the child had been so rude to her.

Lydia lifted earlier memories and held Niobe's hand to watch the frightening ones of Uncle Buckley making threats; and of her nightmares; and of how Niobe discovered that she had only to cry to get her own way, and that revelation being applied to threatening to cry if not given a toy of Ashleigh's; and proceeding to carry out that threat, and Ashleigh's baffled fury over being made to cede a favourite toy to her sister for no other reason than that she wanted it. And then she showed Niobe the memory from Ashleigh's point of view, having taken it from her, and how Ashleigh has sobbed quietly in private over the fact that Niobe had broken a toy that she was too young to play with.

Niobe squirmed more.

"Well my good kid, I hope you understand a bit more what you've done to your siblings" said Lydia quietly after a series of such memories. She put an arm around Niobe "You ARE rather in danger of becoming like your uncle, you know; like Voldemort, for whom nothing that did not affect him was important. It wasn't all your fault; your parents in meaning well were overly influenced by your distress. Parents do all they can for their children – decent parents, anyway. And yours look to be decent parents; just a little bit insane from the stress caused by your rotten uncle, and perhaps not acting therefore as rationally as they might. You're big enough to understand that grownups are NOT infallible; and can be daft at times. It does not devalue them as parents; they only want the best for you and I bet they're devastated that they've acted NOT in your best interests."

"They are" said Connie dryly. "They are also, on my suggestion, going through all your books and toys in case this Buckley Cooper character introduced a cursed item into the household to turn a random child into a monster."

"I – I'm not a monster – am I?" cried Niobe.

"You do a bit of a good impression of one in some respects kid" said Lydia "And I say, Auntie Connie, if there IS such an item, chances are she'd have a compulsion to bring it with her. We need to search her kit!"

"Quite right" said Connie grimly "And DON'T call me Auntie Connie in school."

Lydia grinned.

"Like all the girls in Slytherin House don't refer to you as Auntie Connie" she said unrepentantly. "'Cos they do."

"Huh!" said Connie.

oOoOo

The dolly was distinctly malevolent.

"Right" said Lydia "First I deal with this; Connie, you'll have to hold the poor kid; she'll try to rescue it."

"What are you going to DO?" squealed Niobe.

"Heal you" said Lydia starting to chant. It was a child's toy so it needed something childish; something trivial to counteract its malice.

"_Maerzydotes and doeseydotes and liddlelamsydivy_

_A kiddleydivy too, wouldn't you_" sang Lydia, repeating it and adding a counterpoint hummed by Dionysia's teddy bear to add to the effect. The doll screamed; and Niobe fought and wriggled as Connie held her implacably. She knew that there was nobody to surpass Lydia Snape in chanting in the school, except perhaps Lilith Snape and it was not right to use a second year if the head girl could do it alone. Lydia had long since far surpassed Professor Tony Queach after all.

Niobe stopped struggling and fell into quiet sobs as the doll stopped screaming and became inert.

"Done?" asked Connie.

Lydia nodded.

"Hasn't undone the effect on Niobe; I have to chant over her now" she said "But it means the effect won't be renewed."

"I HATE you!" cried Niobe.

"Oh wait a few minutes before you decide that for certain" said Lydia; and started chanting again, a soothing chant with portions of nursery rhymes embedded in it. It had twenty three lines, the first of twenty three syllables, each decreasing by a syllable as she built up the effect and Niobe's sobbing quieted as she reached the last few lines.

Lydia had been using legilimensy as she chanted to remind the child of what things were not likeable in herself; and as she said the last syllable the little girl cast herself on her.

"There now, kiddie" said Lydia "THAT's the sort of thing Marauders are for; to counter dark magic. And that was dark magic" she added. "Not very efficient dark magic; this Buckley Cooper is rather an amateur at it, not like the creep who enchanted a book to make little Walter Crabbe think it was desirable to torture animals and people. And HE's got over it to aspire to maraud now! You might even find that you DO want to maraud; but you'll have to understand the others will be chary."

"Lydia, you KNOW I can't condone you trying to recruit for marauding under my nose!" said Connie. Lydia laughed.

"The poor kid probably still won't want to; unless it fills her with implacable hatred for the sort of people who do that sort of thing and she wants to get back."

"I want to get back at Uncle Buckley!" said Niobe.

"Well I SHALL be making a deposition of this to an auror – my cousin Draco and his friend Harry Potter" said Lydia "I should think with my memories legilimensed of the chanting it ought to be enough to indict the creep; though unfortunately no proof he sent it. I understand you just found it?"

Niobe nodded.

"It was on my bed one night when I went to bed; and that was when the nightmares started!" she stared "It caused them – and yet it told me it was helping me!" she kicked the doll hard.

"It can't hurt you now; I killed it" said Lydia calmly. "Well, Draco and Harry will do all they can to find out if they can prove it was him; but the aurors' office will at least have a closer eye on Uncle Buckley even if they can't. I expect" she sighed "He hired a free elf to take it as a surprise gift; we can advertise. I could send it direct with magic to someone's home but then I'm a rather skilled arithmancer; the Arithmancy in this curse was awfully basic. Which is why I called him an amateur. Reckon ISAMBARD could have broken that with help from his friends if he'd known about it; and he's no more than an average arithmancer!"

"I guess I need to be better at Arithmancy" said Niobe, furiously.

"It can never hurt" said Lydia. "AND my good kid if you have an enemy like that you'd jolly well better join the MSHG even if you don't want to maraud and learn how better to defend yourself; and I'll alert all the Marauders too!"

"Are YOU a Marauder then?" asked Niobe.

"Oh yes! Most of the top scholars are, you know" said Lydia "Because we drive ourselves further than anyone else. My dad is one of the original Marauders you see; they started to protect a kid who was a werewolf, and became animagi to help him. He's cured now of course; and he's Professor Lupin who teaches DADA. Marauding isn't really for getting into trouble but to stop REAL trouble and sit on bullies. This new lot are still finding their way, and they won't get invited in until they've found it. They mean well; which is a good start. Now let's feed you tea and cakes and then you can run off to find Walter Crabbe and tell him you were cursed too and ask him if you can't see the rest and start again.! They'll give you kudos for having the guts to tell them, you know!"

oOoOo

When Niobe struggled through explaining to Walter that she had suffered from a cursed dolly he whisked her up to find the others and the little girl found that she was patted on the back and given, as Lydia had said, kudos for coming to them.

"I – I don't want to take the cruciatus curse!" said Niobe "I want to fight back though!"

"Look, join the MSHG" said Chrys "And think about joining the Society against Slavery, because you've been a slave to that ruddy toy; they don't go as far as marauders but they have the same sort of ideals. Think about it, anyway."

It would take Niobe a while to get over being self centred; but the horror over having been so used by the family enemy and in turning into a copy of him angered her beyond measure and she was determined to do all she might to overcome all that made her siblings and the other children dislike her!

She also apologised to Kreszi – a rather stilted apology, but Walter stood by her to make it, and Kreszi nodded acceptance and agreed that it was the fault of her uncle and asked if she wanted to be wakened on the morrow. Niobe pulled a face and said 'yes' which earned a laugh from Kreszi and the prediction that rising at so unearthly an hour was supposed to get easier!

And Connie was able to set her parents' minds at rest by writing to them that the school had tracked down a cursed toy and had dealt forthwith with the situation since fortunately their relative was rather an amateur dark wizard whose cursed item had been dealt with adequately by the head girl, a friend of their oldest daughter. Ashleigh was a good girl and it did not do any harm to push forward the fact that she had called in her own friends to aid the child.

oOoOo

Purnima and Seth were soon aware – though they were excluded from helping – that other people were to have siblings; as Lynx went into labour along with Sephara. Felice Ariel was a sister for Leona Pardis; and Frank Harry for Alice Augusta. Purnima was glad to be excluded; such brief wash as she caught was altogether too like some of the memories of the pain she had known herself from that nightmare time she wanted to forget, though doubtless if you were grown up, having a baby at the end of it might be compensation. Purnima did not want to be grown up for a good while yet.

_Buckley Cooper and his long running feud with his brother and his desire to turn his brother's children into blood-sucking ferrets was a part of JKR's Daily Prophet Newletters available only to Brit members of the Harry Potter fan club, but snippets may be found online. It's not strictly canon but I've used families mentioned in the birth/marriage/death sections and expanded on the rather bald narrative surrounding Buckley Cooper's letter to the 'Prophet' asking what his legal position might be if he carried out his desire. Incidentally this is also the source of the prank-playing witch living next door to Mona Mordaunt in the Prince Peak chronicles. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

By and large, the first were enjoying school. Several of them had suffered from Connie's sharp tongue in potions – Niobe amongst them, though by no means alone in that – and Nancy Dippet of Hufflepuff had been reduced to tears when her boil-curing potion exploded and proceeded to give boils to everyone it touched including the stone gargoyle that produced a constant flow of water. It had taken Connie a while to sort out the mayhem and Nancy almost got a detention for wilful sabotage had not she been so abjectly apologetic and obviously confused over what had gone wrong.

Seth, Lavazka and Purnima found themselves good enough to satisfy Madam Hardbroom's stringent standards, as were all three sets of twins and only Bryony Urquart really in any sort of league that might be expected to make potioneers one day. Indeed Madam Hardbroom said, rather waspishly, by the end of the third lesson, the whole year were, judging by what she had heard from other staff, a right bunch of dunces with a few who strove for adequacy and the odd drop of talent in a sea of moronic turgidity.

Had this not been felt by the brighter few to be almost worthy of Severus Snape there might have been more outcry over this not entirely fair summation of the first's abilities.

It is to be said that the assessment was also partly based on Balthazar Kirke's calculations that the ground area of Hogwarts School covered a substantial portion of Eurasia and George Hitchens' efforts to turn a match into a needle whereby he turned the whole matchbox full of matches into noodles; not to mention Nancy Dippet's debacle in the greenhouse wherein she managed to upset a tray of bubotubers all down the back of Madam Sprout's robe that necessitated Connie rescuing the little herbologist from their effects.

The first, it has to be said, had not so far distinguished themselves in terms of academic excellence. And Megarius Fox was banned from chanting for being so unable to hold a tempo that he was putting others off; and Balthazar went AWOL from Comparative Magic when he found out that Assim Khan was a Rakshasa and refused point blank to return.

Assim was affronted; but soothed when Seth explained that the boy had a real phobia, and wrote a letter to the boy that he would do all he could, if Balthazar wished it, to help him come to terms with his fears and would accept the lad back if at any time he felt like returning and would mark any essays he wanted to send in via schoolmates if they would let him read notes.

Balthazar wrote back expressing his gratitude and apologising for his funk especially in the light of such kindness; and hoped he would learn to handle it. He explained he was watching the tigers who went running from the window and was sweating less and could manage now to eat breakfast without throwing up after doing so.

Assim treated this student therefore as a correspondent student such as he had those at Prince Peak; and hoped the poor child would indeed overcome his fears.

oOoOo

The first were also not distinguishing themselves in behaviour; Walter had stepped on Douglas Flint when he caught the boy jeering at Colin Makepeace for his poor Arithmancy declaring it beyond anyone with elf blood. Walter pointed out that Mimi Snape who was a full blood elf could work rings around any other arithmancer in her year and asked as Flint was so poor a potioneer was this because he was a squib or merely a muggle. Flint drew wand on that and Walter, well trained by the MSHG and further than most for his own hard work, deflected scornfully anything Flint could produce and cast the new spell Lilith had researched and shared happily one morning, called the boogie-woogie bogey bugle hex, which made the nose play jazz music. He also added the honky-tonk twinkletoes curse so Flint's footsteps played 'Lapti-Nek' – they had just seen 'Star Wars' – in unholy disharmony with the Muskrat Ramble that was coming from his nose.

Flint fled howling to tell Madam Hardbroom that Crabbe had been bullying him.

Connie wondered if Walter was backsliding and came to find him for an explanation.

"Did you jinx Mr Flint?" she asked.

"Yes Madam Hardbroom I did" said Walter. "Did he tell you who pulled wand first?"

"No he did not" said Connie grimly. "I take it that it was not you?"

"No Madam Hardbroom; I had been using merely harsh language" said Walter.

"Why?"

"I don't like racist bullies" said Walter "And if I can counter jinxes better than he can, it's his problem and I'm sorry but I'm not going to take the spells off, however many detentions you give me because I'd rather gut horned toads and know that any little kid he likes hurting can hear him coming."

Connie sighed. How could she punish cheek with so pure a motive?

"I shall have forty repetitions from you, 'Sleep no more! Macbeth hath murdered sleep' for your disturbing of a quiet afternoon" she said "And were it not for the peace of the other inhabitants in your dormitory I should make you sleep with his nose going all night!"

"I rather like it actually; I probably would sleep happily" said Walter. "Lilith Snape is teaching us about Jazz."

"It WOULD be Lilith Snape!" sighed Connie. "I will be cancelling the spell; I can't have you belling the cat in such a manner!"

"No Madam Hardbroom; sorry Madam Hardbroom" said Walter not sounding sorry.

oOoOo

Flint, asked in detail what the quarrel was about that had caused him to end up in so sorry a state, tried to explain that he had caught Crabbe bullying the boy Makepeace for being part elf. Connie regarded him with distaste. She did not need to be a legilimens to recognise when a boy's eyes slid sideways as a part of a lie.

Consequently Connie told Flint that passing his own prejudices off onto others was NOT acceptable, for which piece of contumely he might continue to enjoy Mr Crabbe's musical taste whilst reflecting on the inadvisability of racism.

Flint found himself a giant woodlouse, still playing the Muskrat Ramble and more legs to make Lapti Nek join it in a canon that so almost worked as to be doubly gruesome.

oOoOo

The weird marauders were so impressed by the honky-tonk twinkletoes curse that they came into breakfast next morning having cast it on themselves, doing the Lambeth Walk.

They were banished until it was under control and had to make do with a truncated breakfast which they declared well worth it and proceeded to do library work to see if they could enchant a doorway to cure people of not dancing the Lambeth Walk with music supplied along with a twist to the Tarantallegra curse.

It would take some serious research; and their studies kept them firmly in the library to the relief of the more naïve of the prefects.

They subscribed to 'Chanticleer' to help them out, a new magazine brought out by Lucius to aid chanters and musicians in the wizarding world. It was not so academic a paper as some; having too the odd interview with wizarding bands, and featuring the music for songs without magical properties as well as hints and tips on enchanting musical instruments, some simple chants for everyday needs and a page of higher level discussion for the more academic, which page, Lucius promised, would grow into an academic magazine one day once enough people were interested in subscribing to it.

The serious page was called 'Vox Populi' and that would be the name of the new periodical when it came out, and Mimi Snape had explained that it meant 'the voice of the people' and the full quote was 'vox populi, vox dei', or 'the voice of the people is the voice of God' and was something of a joke since Lucius liked plays on words because as well as the voice of the people making a chant, it was entirely possible for a good enough chanter to undertake feats that would seem god-like to the normal population.

The majority of those who took 'Chanticleer' read the interview with the Broomstick Boys and those who took chanting and marauding seriously read the 'vox populi' page.

And Lilith Snape, who did not think much of the Broomstick Boys, enchanted the photo of the pair in the centrefold that someone pinned up on the common room wall to fart one of their most famous works, a song in praise of quidditch, which led to threats of retribution – which she ignored – from both Broomstick Boys fans and quidditch fans.

It may be said that Lilith got a letter of congratulations on her enchanting skill from the Broomstick Boys when some fan wrote to them to complain, asking if it was her father they had pissed off by enchanting horned toads to croak in chorus.

Lilith wrote back and said yes, she had heard the story, and that her father regretted not knowing then what he subsequently learned or they would have been his star chanting pupils rather than writing second rate songs for second rate teenagers.

They recognised Severus' style in that.

It may be said that Lilith also received an owl from her father telling her that Nils Tenor and Crysichorus Bass had turned up at Prince Peak to beg lessons in advanced chanting as post NEWT study which was good for chanting and a distraction for his sillier girls.

A later publication of 'Chanticleer' held a statement from the Broomstick Boys telling their fans that they WOULD be back, but that they had decided to turn their musical skills to serious study, now it was available, and that they were studying chanting and music in magic in a post-NEWT academy.

Lilith commented that with a bit of luck, they might actually improve musically as well and wrote to Sara Barbary, who had transferred to Prince Peak suggesting that she and Silvina Brewer might actually write for the pair and raise the tone of their sound to music.

oOoOo

There was a little bit of excitement when the bloodgroup were called on to boost a couple of the Durmstrang members to deal with inferii; apparently they had their own dark wizard, as if, as Bella said, life did not provide enough excitement with the Cooper fellow upsetting Niobe. Jade seemed happy to keep all under control out there however so as usual she bagged all the fun as Bella put it; and got poked by her friends.

The exam classes were working hard and were glad that the junior levels of marauders seemed mostly quiescent; and they were not the only ones.

Ming Chang was working on a NEWT project for his goblin metalwork – which was really goblin craftwork at this level – and was working on a project Gorbrin had suggested, extending the scope of the omniocular to record more.

"What I think I need to do is to be able to record onto a storable medium the way muggles do" said Ming "And as we do with sound for wizarding wireless. We use muggle film for the MSHG films, but if I could develop some cartridge that works on the same principle as the omniocular replay but lasts longer, a recording device for long events, like for the Wizarding Wireless Vision lessons could be used that wasn't so cumbersome as the current recording techniques. The room gets filled with kit to record a lesson; Lucius was doing Madam McGonagall with some of us as volunteers in the holidays for OWL exam level transfigurations and it was awfully tedious because she had to work out sections to record so each bit could be done at a time and then added together to transmit. A chap at the back of the class with an omniocular would be far more convenient."

"And for recording news as it breaks" said Jorbal. "We need several omnioculars to work with; and dear me, if you plan to market it, a licence."

"I'm leaving THAT to Lucius" grinned Ming. "I did wonder too about doing experiments in copying the way muggles do it and using glass enchanted to be flexible using the powers of fourteen, which is the muggle number assigned to silicon, the secondary component and eight for oxygen the chief component of glass which changes silicon into silica by muggle assimilative correlation by molecular thingey, because there's a lot of oxygen combined with all the, er, stuff in glass. I wrote to Ross and received a lecture four hundred miles longer than I needed but he kindly condensed it into a sentence at the end."

"Well mixing in muggle science worked well enough for Gorbrin" said Jorbal "And that sword of his really was a NEWT level piece. It can't hurt to show more than one line of research, and besides, it may help you with other projects of your own another time in ways you can't yet guess."

Ming grinned.

"That was more or less what I thought" he said.

Jorbal was excited; so much had come out of the first OWLs in metalwork, more than goblins had discovered for many a long year just from one small group of children ready to experiment and work with more than one skill! True, there had been rather pedestrian things too, mere clockwork toys with faintly useful applications; but one could not expect every child to be so creative. He was sorry Gorbrin was not taking metalwork further alongside his friends Ming and Albert but the boy was already doing eight NEWTs, a ridiculous number, and intended to be an Auror not an artificer. It was a waste in a way; but Jorbal recognised that Gorbrin was a youth who would be likely to succeed in whatever job he turned his hand to. It was a vindication of his decision to further the art of crafting by teaching at Hogwarts as a reciprocation of their support of goblin rights; a vindication of his belief that there were humans who could succeed in such even as there were goblins who could succeed in wand skills.

oOoOo

The run up to Halloween was a trifle disturbed by a convention held at Hogwarts by the Headless Hunt under Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore, who had invited themselves to what they saw as a convenient venue, and proceeded to exclude Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, or as countless Gryffindors knew their House ghost, Nearly Headless Nick.

It was a sore point with Sir Nicholas that the fact that his head was held on by a few strips of skin and gristle due to an inept headsman that he was not permitted to join the Headless Hunt, whilst having all the inconveniences of headlessness and he waxed long to any Gryffindors who would listen, his pearly white velvet doublet shaking in every box pleat in emotion.

"Nick" said Lydia "If you could choose, which would you rather? Would you rather be fully headless to join in the stupid and boisterous shenanigans of that bone-headed half-wit Delaney-Podmore or would you prefer your head to be fully attached without flopping so you can be one up on him that way?"

Nick shrugged, then readjusted his head as it flopped against the heavy collar he wore to hold it.

"I'd love not to have things like that happen; in sooth, my dear, I'd love to have the opportunity to be brought back to life like you lot did to Myrtle and I half suspect to another child since."

"It isn't fair on kids" said Lydia "Especially one driven to suicide by his parents because they don't think he should live if he has wizarding powers."

"Oh THOSE sort" said Nick gloomily "I admit I was sore at first about Myrtle; but it was an extraordinary thing you all did, and so courageous of Abraxus! I was wrong; you did the right thing…. I SAY, Professor Dumbledore has an ebony hand, is this someone he hath interest in?"

"Not romantically you old reprobate" said Lydia firmly. "So, you'd like your head firmly attached?"

"Yes; then I could lose this stupid Flemish collar" said Nick "Lydia, you surely don't mean….."

Lydia smiled.

"Can I, or can I not tickle the insubstantial?" she said.

"There's a whole lot of difference between tickling ghosts and reattaching ghostly heads" said Nick.

"Only in degree; not in principle" said Lydia "I was planning on using a chant actually. Are you up for it?"

"Am I a Gryffindor or what?" demanded Nick "Of course I'm up for it! You won't succeed of course but let it not be that I should back out of aiding your noble efforts!"

Lydia wished sometimes Nick did not have quite such a desire to posture; presumably in life he was either a politician or an adventurer. If there was any difference between them at the end of the fifteenth century. It was an age of plots against the upstart Tudor – Severus being descended from Richard the Third, Lydia held rather partisan and Yorkist views – and an age in which hero or traitor could be a matter of dates. Lydia knew her history of the Wars of the Roses and that although Henry Tudor had married Elizabeth of York to unite the houses, introducing the famous Tudor rose with the white of York combined with the red of Lancaster, many had held Henry VII to be Lancastrian. As his claim to the throne was tenuous at best, and involving illegitimate descent, Lydia considered him nothing but an usurper and was happy to do what she might for someone who had presumably irritated him.

She walked around Nick twice clockwise and once widdershins; said 'excuse me' and walked through him – a horrid cold feeling but vital to feel his presence more clearly – and started to chant. She used church Latin; for his period it was more appropriate.

It was a complex chant filled with healing magics and references to insubstantiality; and finished with the singing of 'oranges and lemons' save she finished it

"chip – chop – chip – chop – last – man's – WHOLE!"

Nick goggled and pushed at the side of his head.

"I say!" he said, rather awed "It WORKED!"

"Of course it worked" said Lydia "I'm rather good you know. And didn't we chant to make Merope's eyes straight so she shouldn't be a ghost with a squint? Especially as she's still the only ghost at Prince Peak. You off to gloat at that headless hopeless huntsman?"

"I jolly well am!" said Nick "And if he takes exception and wants to do anything to you, I'll warn him YOU can affect him and he can't touch YOU."

"He'll soon find out if he decides to ignore your advice" said Lydia "Tell him to shove off as well; we didn't invite him here, nor did you ghosts and if he isn't gone within the hour, some of us will come and evict him. There are banishments far more unpleasant that the ones that tie ghosts to one place and I'm entitled to bell, Book and candle because I've been baptised by the old method; and you can tell him that too if you like."

Nick winced.

"Have you any idea what you've just threatened?" he said.

"Yes; forcing through the veil in one of the more uncomfortable and inept fashions" said Lydia. "Sort of the equivalent of putting salt on slugs for a ghost as I understand it. Or I can send his head to Abu-Dhabi and his body to Auchtermuchty. Or I can attach all the wrong heads to the wrong bodies. Just make it clear that I can be very creative when my friends are upset and irritated; and the castle ghosts are all my friends, even the Grey Lady. At least , when outsiders are involved in the matter."

Nick grinned.

"I'm glad you crazy lot are our friends" he said. "I'll be back with a, er, sit rep."

"Good-oh" said Lydia.

oOoOo

Nick strolled back through the wall of the Gryffindor common room.

"They had conniptions" he said brightly "And currently they're holding an indignation meeting over you threatening them."

"They'd better be quick about it or they'll outstay their welcome" said Lydia, muttering to herself briefly. No effect was visible in the common room but in the large dungeon room Sir Patrick and friends had taken over, a large clock face appeared in mid air and ghostly music played.

It was the piece 'sixty seconds to what' from 'From a few Dollars More' on chiming clock. Absently Lydia added the organ music and left them to it.

Fifty minutes later she pulsed sundry of her blood kin and set off for the dungeon.

The remains of the Mad marauders, the Belle Marauders and Lilith joined her and they marched into the dungeon and into the middle of the floor, taking no notice of any ghosts they marched through.

"You were told to scram" said Lydia "To leave, to get out, to vamoose, to make yourselves scarce, _abiit, excessit_ and the rest of whatever Cicero said. Which part of that instruction did you fail to understand?"

"Little girl, you are insolent! We can haunt you - and if you have been interfering with Sir Nicholas' neck I shall do so anyway!"

Lydia looked at him scornfully.

"You couldn't manage to haunt my nine-year-old sister here" she said.

"Oy, you baboon, I'm nearly ten!" protested Lilith.

"Run away, little girl while we chastise your elders!" said Sir Patrick, looming at Lilith.

Lilith made a curious gesture and blew a raspberry on the hand that had made it. Sir Patrick doubled up suddenly in shock as the raspberry landed on his rather substantial belly.

"Prettily done, small Snapeling" said Bella.

Lilith curtseyed.

"Disruption, disorientation and dissemination?" said Lydia.

"But so they can put themselves back together – or it's too cruel" said Leo.

"Oh yes; but you do take my point that we want them otherwise occupied?" said Lydia, absently waving a hand to repel an advancing ghost. Insubstantial ripples from her fingers knocked him backwards.

Mad started the chant and the other oldest boys took it up. Bella and her group and Polly added a counterpoint and Lydia drew it all together with Lilith with a sung addition to weave in and out of the headless hunt. Lilith admired Lydia no end; she knew far more about chanting than anyone except dad, mummy and Jade! It was easy to see what she was doing – easy at least for Lilith who was born to chanting – and she joined in with enthusiasm, carefully manipulating lines of power to break the ghosts up into smaller parts, not just their heads; effectively splinching them before the chant reached a climax, and on the crescendo stopped short with a shout that scattered all those parts in a complex apportation to sundry random points.

"Crumbs, Lydia, I never knew you could do an apparition apparation!" said Chad. "That was quite complex!"

"Yes, and it's freezing in here now!" said Lilith shivering "That was some energy use!"

"And time to get back to our respective common room fires" said Lydia "Besides I have a book I want to read."

"What, some arithmantic tome?" grinned Leo.

"No, I'm reading Jane Austen's 'Emma'" said Lydia. "Very funny book."

"To each their own" said Leo.

oOoOo

"What did you actually do?" asked Nick when Lydia returned. "I was half afraid to look."

"Oh we splinched 'em" said Lydia airily "What happened to poor old Binnsey gave me the idea; we apported them to several random points. They'll be able to collect up each of their parts again but it should take a couple of years and ought to encourage them to leave us alone."

"You are a very terrible young woman" shuddered Nick.

"I got sick of that smug, crass, self-satisfied fool being rude to our one-and-only Nick" shrugged Lydia. "I could have done MUCH worse to them. This is their warning. If they make trouble again when they've de-splinched themselves they'll have Lilith to contend with; and she's way more talented than I am. But it's Sir Edward who has to deal with her; and I think he's one of the few people she actually takes that much notice of."

"The Bloody Baron is welcome to her!" said Nick. "Thank you Lydia; I feel suddenly much less depressed than I have done for a very long time; indeed quite jolly! I hope it takes him a long time, the stuck up bobadil!" he added viciously.

Lydia laughed; and returned to her book.

It never did any harm to make a periodic display of power when others were getting uppity. And Nick was HER House ghost, even if she and Jade did too have a special relationship with the Bloody Baron.

Besides, it had been instructive to see if they could do it to ghosts en masse.

oOoOo

None of those who had taken part in the ritual spoke of it; but Nick did to the other ghosts and word leaked out. The older marauders and Lilith were looked on askance by the ghosts – except Sir Edward who hated Sir Patrick with venom and who gave both Lydia and Lilith a ghostly kiss – and with some awe by the other pupils.

"Did you really splinch them, half pint?" asked Sextus.

"Yes; it happened to Professor Binns by accident when he was still teaching history" said Lilith "He not having stopped just because he was dead. Some idiot opened a gate when practising apportation illegally and ineptly and half his left leg went off on the eleven seventeen to Basingstoke. Mummy went and found it and figured out how to manipulate the insubstantial to bring it back and put it on. So we did it to those headless fools. It was a cinch of a splinch; we chanted. You can do ANYTHING with chanting near enough."

"Powerful" said Sextus.

"Dad puts a lot of credence in chanting" said Gennar.

"As well he might by the look of it" said Venus. Kazrael and Jayashree nodded.

oOoOo

"I say, can you marauder types use chanting to do anything unpleasant to my uncle?" Niobe asked.

"Dunno" said Seth "I think it MIGHT be out of our league as yet."

"Nonsense" said Purnima "We could send a sending; it's Icelandic magic."

"MORE library work?" said Lavazka. "Oh well, it's more useful than sheer mischief. What were you thinking of, Niobe?"

"Something that scares him that it can be done" said Niobe "I don't want to kill him; I don't want to be as rotten as him. I want to scare him and good."

"What make him lay an egg or something?" suggested Veronica.

"Or have some nasty word in zits appear on his forehead?" suggested Chrys.

"It would be poetic to send a bad dream" said Walter.

"Now that IS out of our league" said Purnima.

"Send an elephant?" suggested Hasibul "Sending someone an elephant is a great but very expensive honour that is by way of rebuke."

"Where would we get an elephant from in the first place?" said Seth "Besides, it's cruelty to elephants."

"That I grant you" said Hasibul.

"I don't want to involve big people if we can do it for Cooper ourselves or I'd suggest getting Erica to draw him and change it a little until he looks silly" said Veronica. "Do we know where he lives?"

"I can find out from Ashleigh" said Niobe.

"Well best I can come up with is that we drop the babbling curse on anyone who leaves his house; it's a ticklish piece of geomancy and we'll need Arithmancy too, to work out exactly where to drop it by using simultaneous equations…. I read ahead in the book because I was interested, all right?" she added as most of the rest stared at her blankly "Walter, if you'll let me run through it with you, we can do it between us I should think."

"I read it up when I was in hospital" said Walter "I can do simultaneous equations; I was planning on working hard enough to get back to my chronological age, but I think I'd rather stay put with my friends."

"You know, if you move up one year or two, you'd still be with marauders" said Purnima, touching his arm.

"Yeah, I know that; but you lot have been good to me and accepted me and you're my special friends" said Walter.

Niobe looked wistful.

"I wish I could have friends like that" she said.

"Well, you're a friend now" said Seth "Because we look out for you; and if you feel like marauding ever I guess now we might accept you."

"So long as you don't think I'm cute" said Chrys "My mum writes pretty poems and I get to keep the curls while they still make us dosh. But I'm NOT the sickly little boy in the poems and stories; I'm several years older and a whole lot more of a boy. I like getting dirty and mucking about."

"I – I suppose because I'd isolated myself, a storybook character and what I made up about him was the only friend I had" said Niobe in a rush.

"You poor little sprat!" said Chrys. "Well if you can take the real me, I'll be a friend; but it can never be as close as if you were a marauder. Because we will one day bleed for each other – YOU'RE in it, aren't you, Purr, and Seth?"

"He is unwholesomely clever" said Purnima. "Yes Chrys; we are. You read Severus Snape's book then?"

"Yes; because I was interested" said Chrys.

"What do you mean?" asked Walter.

"One day we shall all share blood and learn to feel each other – and the older ones – as kin beyond kin" said Chrys "And THAT was how Purr got Bella to come. Through that link – wasn't it?"

"We are NOT supposed to talk about it" said Purnima "I was brought in after Bella and Mimi rescued me; as was U-may, so we were protected. Actually, Bella and Mimi had not joined to the whole then, and when we got back to school there was a big ceremony. And we certainly aren't supposed to talk about it in front of Niobe."

"But if she knew that she'd be protected she might be more willing to maraud" said Chrys.

"The criterion is that people want to maraud anyway" said Purnima.

"I'm just scared of the pain" said Niobe.

"If you're loved, pain is only ever pain" said Seth. "It can't touch YOU. And besides, if anyone was doing it for real, not as a practise, the blood group can waft it away. Not everyone's Jade Snape to take the cruciatus curse, grin evilly, and then curse the dark witch who's casting it with curses beyond the broad's understanding. And no, I don't know any details, but some of the German contingent were discussing it."

"Would someone hold my hand while I took the cruciatus curse?" asked Niobe.

"Course we will" said Walter. "And it isn't until we're big anyway and I don't think even all the marauders do it; only learn to resist it."

"Then – then I WILL maraud" said Niobe "And GET people like Uncle Buckley."

"Right; then we better start designing a chant and as we're eight it's better in octameter" said Veronica "A job for you, Chrys; I bet Mad and Chad write all the chants that Lydia doesn't do on the fly. And Walter and me on the Arithmancy. Crumbs we WILL have a busy weekend!"

The one downside was that the eight conspirators did not expect to ever find out if their chant had any effect; they decided to go for something simpler than the babbling curse in the end and used a summoning charm Lavazka found in a book to summon frogs to open a gate for the said frogs right by Buckley Cooper's front door.

"And how deep will Uncle Buckley be in frogs?" grinned Chrys.

"Kneedeep!" said Seth.

They both got poked.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Mimi was glad of the hard work involved in being in her OWL year; it helped her not to miss Darryl so much. That she could feel him in her blood was comforting; and she did apparate to Prince Peak on odd weekends to spend time with him but being apart was hard, especially as the 'Daily Prophet' ran a series of news items covering their speculations over the deaths of each of Darryl's mother's previous husbands that were under investigation whilst she and her older son were held in custody. Blaise had been convicted of attempted murder of his brother and there was a lot of gossip in the fifth and lower sixth about where Darryl was and whether he had left school because of the shame or whether he lay dangerously ill in St Mungos hovering between life and death.

Fortunately most of the lower sixth were decent – and a large number of them were blooded – so it was only really Robert Spikenard in Gryffindor and Porphyria and Deborah of Hufflepuff who did much speculation there; and assorted Ravenclaws in the fifth.

Robert, who was rather fond of himself and a little too impressed by his ability with divination determined that Darryl Zabini was on the continent and declared didactically that he was in Durmstrang where he belonged; and Venilia Cornfoot and her friend Avice Crawford, Ravenclaw's prefects in the fifth, reminded her housemates loudly and firmly just where speculation about Zabini had got them last year; and if they wanted to wear the word 'pratt' on their foreheads again, they need not think for one moment that Lydia Snape was any less able at the execution of the same than Mei Chang had been. She added that Lydia was probably quite capable of putting the word in insubstantial zits on the foreheads of ghosts.

This generally quieted any public discussion at least; until one of the more lurid pieces in the 'Prophet' stated that inside information from one of young Zabini's former schoolmates placed him in Durmstrang, where he was learning to torture non humans and muggles.

Mimi read that, jumped to her feet and went to the staff table.

"Please Professor Dumbledore, can we just put this to rest?" she asked. "No reporters can get at Darryl; it doesn't harm to tell people where he is – and WHY."

Dumbledore nodded and banged on the table.

"The 'Daily Prophet is doing its usual comedy turn" he said dryly "But I understand that someone from this school has been telling them lies again about Darryl Zabini."

"It WASN'T me!" squeaked Michelle Makepeace.

"That's all right, Makepeace, I've a shrewd idea who it is" said Mimi "Never suspected you; you get bees in your bonnet but you ain't that stupid. To be that stupid takes a Gryff."

"Oh!" said Michelle, half gratified and half not sure how she felt.

"I know exactly where Mr Zabini is" said Dumbledore "Since he discussed with me, and with his former house head, how concentrating on NEWTs was going to be rather difficult with the sort of malicious publicity the 'Prophet' manages, who manage to blame a young man for having been a victim of an abusive mother and who saw his father murdered by her. I should like you all to reflect on that; what it would be like to see a parent murdered. Yes, Gorbrin; I know YOU know; and you also have the support of your mother and step father. Darryl does NOT have anyone; so the 'Prophet' feels able to victimise him still further. Having been through their form of not quite illegal slander with Harry Potter I concurred with the boy's guardian that it was best for him to go to Prince Peak, where the headmaster is his former House Head, Severus Snape. Severus is a veteran of two wars against Voldemort and one against Odessa, so mere reporters are NOT going to trouble him. Though the number of vultures at the castle may increase if any try I suppose" he added mildly. Several people giggled, especially Chrys, who had suffered from reporters. "Whoever made the infamous suggestion to the 'Prophet' that Darryl was er, learning to torture people in Durmstrang should write an apology to both Darryl and Madam Bacsó immediately and send it to the 'Times' for publication; there need be no name appended so long as the culprit identifies himself as the supposed informant to the 'Prophet'; and if you were misquoted, it would be a good opportunity to mention this. I have no doubt that the words were spoken in haste and without thinking in Hogsmeade when one of the 'Prophet' vultures made an approach; and let this be a lesson that hasty words can bring far reaching results. If such a letter does NOT appear, since I am of the opinion that the culprit is over seventeen I shall not restrain Severus and Madam Bacsó from bringing slander suits against him. I hope I make myself clear?"

Robert Spikenard gulped and stood up; he did not lack courage. Madam Spikenard groaned; her grandchildren had been conspicuous over the last couple of years with their divination talents making trouble.

"Well when I divined he was on the continent how would I think he might be any place BUT Durmstrang, sir? Why would Snape have him? He's a racist!"

"Robert, Robert!" said Dumbledore. "For a supposed seer of the future, have you not the eyes to see the past and present? Have you not NOTICED last year that Darryl had been learning some truths? Did you fail to hear his courageous speech to the whole school explaining why he had a phobia about goblins? Did you fail to notice that he took Mimi Snape to the Yule Ball, even if you don't take 'Witch Weekly' and did not see the photo of them wrapped around each other? Darryl has been a troubled boy that made him troublesome; and he has been big enough to admit his faults and grow out of them – the mark of a real man. I fear, my boy, from the look on Lilith Snape's face, your er, bodily gasses are going to fluoresce for the foreseeable future. And I suggest you get that letter written quickly to the 'Times' and try to find some way in which you were misinterpreted or misquoted or a serious slant placed on something said in jest. I expect that Gorbrin and Meliandra will help you; as they are both noted for their felicity of style in writing."

Gorbrin and Meliandra grinned and flushed; they had ambitions – between being aurors – to publish whodunnits.

"Sir" said Robert who was a foolishly self-opinionated boy rather than a bad one. "I'd be glad of the help if you two will be prepared to give it."

"Any time" said Gorbrin "Darryl's a friend of mine."

And THAT ought to scotch any rumours that the boy was still racist.

oOoOo

Bella was suffering from feelings of so-near-and yet-so far from her Assim; and sympathised with Mimi for her physical distance that made life both easier and harder. Over the holidays Drusillina had settled down to being Leo Black-Weasley's girlfriend; Isabel Nightshade had settled on Chad Fenwick; and Maud was also suffering quietly like Mimi – which earned her hugs from her friend – because she had come face to face with Fabian Ramage, one of the Prowling Marauders, at what Bella called the Malfoy bean feast and had blushed hard and stuttered a lot. Since Fabian had also blushed hard and stuttered a lot it was generally accepted that they had a Case.

Bella was being very good about Assim until the night she had a really bad nightmare about her former self's encounters with Tom Riddle; and found herself apparating still half asleep to find a fluffy white tummy.

Assim knew when distress was no perversity and though briefly startled, Bella's scent was familiar and dear to him, and he gently washed a sobbing young girl with a big rough tiger tongue without bothering to mention the impropriety of her being only in her nightgown.

Her scent DID have an effect on him however and when he awoke to the awareness of that, Bella was gazing fascinated at the said Effect.

"Assim, it's so PINK!" she said "Almost Barbie pink; I sort of though it would be mahogany like the rest of you!"

"Hrrrr!" said Assim, rolling over onto his fluffy white tummy to hide the Effect. "Pestilential horror, I am in tiger form" he added in his thick, treacly, purry tiger voice "And it is a proper colour for that. In my human form all parts of me are a proper colour for that too."

"OOooh, can I see?" asked Bella.

"No you may not" said Assim, cuffing her gently with an admonitory paw "And you should go back to your bed before your friends miss you."

Bella planted a kiss on the end of his brown leather nose and woffled her face against his. He swiped her face with his tongue, paused, and investigated her ear with its tip, Bella squirmed and giggled.

"It needed a wash" said Assim. Bella kissed his nose again and apparated back to her fellows. She felt MUCH better for that!

oOoOo

Robert's letter to the 'Times' was a masterpiece, as the boy himself acknowledged. Gorbrin and Meliandra had been decent to find ways of saving his face; and he was prepared to admit it. This had been a knock to his over-inflated self esteem and had been a timely warning. Robert was determined to be more circumspect from now on; and, after a rather uncomfortable interview with his grandmother, to be more careful in checking his divinations. She had pointed out – forcibly – that if he hoped to be an insurance diviner as she and his grandfather had been he needed accuracy not wild guesswork based loosely on a half understood divination.

The three had written, in a mild tone of reproach, that it was a sorry day when reporters were so short of stories that they had to question schoolchildren over the whereabouts of a previous colleague, who had moved to another school to avoid just such contumelious – Gorbrin's word – interference over their status as victims of familial abuse – Meliandra's phrase. And whilst it might be beyond a sixth former to rag them by seeing how much tripe they might absorb, and he, Robert, was very sorry for causing any trouble to Mr Zabini or lowering Madam Bacsó's reputation by the said tripe, no reasonable thinking being would have taken on the rag as real and printed it as though factual. Robert wrote that he was contacting the 'Times' with a copy of the letter to the 'Prophet' in the belief that the 'Times' as a reputable periodical would print his retraction of the views as offered by the 'Prophet' rather than doing something like quoting him out of context. Robert wrote that he had known that Darryl was somewhere on the continent and had not troubled to divine further since it was not really any of his business, and had been making wild and unlikely comments for a lark. And if anyone really WANTED to irritate Severus Snape, veteran of three wars against dark wizards by trying to poke into HIS school then it proved they really were as retarded as they seemed to be for believing wild fantasies.

The 'Prophet' printed the portion of the letter that was the retraction whilst using their editorial rights to leave out comments concerning their reporting and editorial intellectual deficiencies; the 'Times' printed the letter in full and the editorial remarked acidly that justice was never served by the press deciding whom to hound and in attempting to try a case without the full facts available to the Wizgamot and suggested that that august body should perhaps consider injunctions to the effect of the same and if necessary charges of attempts to pervert the course of justice to any editors guilty of wild speculation and prejudice.

The stories in the 'Prophet' were promptly toned down to the point of being boring; and the 'Times' printed true tales of muggle murderers and their victims and how the cause of death was determined by muggle science even years after.

The sales of the 'Times' went up.

oOoOo

Meanwhile quidditch matches were played before the weather got too dire; Gryffindor played Hufflepuff first, both first and second teams; and the school voted them some of the best matches they had seen played. Hufflepuff lost both games but showed, as Lydia put it, much better than the result suggested. Both matches took a full day to complete, with the first teams playing on into the darkness under _lumos_ spells for the permitted half an hour since it was plain that Sekunder had seen the snitch; and it was a chase between him and Dunbar Finch.

They all shook hands afterwards and went for well-deserved food; and both Houses agreed it was the best fun any of them had had that term.

The two Ravenclaw teams played the two Slytherin teams next, and provided another weekend of excitement; though not quite as long as the previous matches, the first teams played well on into the afternoon for being well matched, the scoring of Chad and Mad and Sampta Patil being cancelled out by Gorbrin's beating of Jack Murray to the snitch after a well executed Wronski feint that ended the game on a tie in points!

As Jack said,

"The Wronski feint is a bit Wriski but whenski it goes wrightski you're laughing."

Gorbrin grinned. He and Murray got on well enough now; and he wished the boy every success in his intended career as a professional quidditch player. And a tie with Ravenclaw was better than a loss any day!

Unfortunately the Slytherin second team did not do so well and Simi Patil, Sampta's little sister, caught the snitch in ample time and ended the match with a win, if not a large one, over the Slytherin youngsters.

And then it snowed and quidditch was off for the winter as more than a bit of knockabout play at the weekends that held fine.

And there was more time to concentrate on the usual idiocies that led up to the Yule Ball.

oOoOo

The fourth this year, whose attendance at the ball was mandatory, included all the original founders of the SAS and the other gang of the year who might be said to be cronies to Roger and his friends. It may be said that they had all put their heads together and planned to come in robes decorated with the pigments obtained from Kevin Slugworthy's psychedelic slug trails just because; he was successfully marketing the pigments now, as well as the pictures his snails made, and the rest of his group insisted that he should keep substantial amounts for himself as well as dedicating some to the freeing of slaves.

The amounts they HAD raised had been entrusted, rather shyly, to Lucius Malfoy to use to buy out elves who needed help; and three European elves had so far been successfully purchased and freed, and were being kept by the efforts of the society, courtesy of them being housed by Lucius who was, as Dobby put it, a mug, bless him.

The SAS now also spread over four houses, since Kevin had talked Wendy Waffling and her friend Mesmadora Turpin into joining, since Wendy's little sister was a Marauder. Lydia decided that the Ball's decorations would have to take into account the lurid, colour-changing pigments of the Streelugs that were only barely legal creatures and just recently licensed as permissible for having been bred without any magical intervention unless one counted the enlargement of ordinary slugs and the confusing and befuddlement draught fed to both slugs and streelers to persuade them to co-operate.

Potions were NOT covered by the statute of magical breeding as Kevin had checked well in advance.

Lydia, Leo, Mad, Chad and Polly put their heads together and decided to stick to a white theme of snowfields in a traditional snowy landscape, utilising fey glamour magic to produce it so the snow was not cold; and warned the school that the dance would be on ice and those who had never skated had better learn fast.

It was fortunate that the basic skills of skating might be passed magically; but learning the finer points was a little trickier and though all the Marauders had spent time in Austria they DID take some time out to brush up!

Leo and Chad were fixed for the ball, and Mad invited Maud, since they were both missing people; Lydia invited Stoyann Krumm as he was soon to be her brother-in-law; and Polly invited Kreacher who was both shocked and flattered. He was very dashing these days, his youth restored by Lydia's chanting and his hair nicely kept and brushed back in quite a rakish style; and Polly made herself a half-elf form to go with his.

"WELL now!" said Lydia to Leo "And I always figured Polly for Beloc!"

"Oh, Beloc's a player" said Leo "He'll settle down when he falls desperately in love; but if he wed Pol it would only be convenience of a love beyond love that any of us might have. I'm glad you're marrying Viktor; now I'm with 'Lina I understand about having to find the right one. Sorry I was a pain for a while."

Lydia shrugged.

"It's because people sort of form assumptions; like lots of people expected Jade to end up with Fabian. Maud suits him much better; she's a very capable little thing, with a nice offbeat and understated sense of humour but she'll be as happy to follow him as be an equal. Jade would hate to be married to someone she could bully, and Fabian likes a quiet life. He and Maud will agree happily with each other or argue logically and sensibly if they disagree without any histionics."

Leo laughed.

"Jade doesn't pull histrionics, she turns people into things!" he said.

"Well there is that" said Lydia, laughing. "I half considered taking Nick, you know; but Stoyann is shy and needs protecting."

"Oh get Mimi to take Nick and suggest Bella takes Sir Edward" said Leo.

Lydia laughed.

"Why not!" she said.

oOoOo

Stacey had made her shy declaration of partiality to Jordan Christie who had gone very pink and stammered that he had never expected to have a chance with her; and Silvester Crouch-Jones teased them both and offered congratulations and made an offer to dance with Clementine Yaxley who asked him suspiciously how well he could skate.

"I was planning on using the hovering charm and getting you to push" said Silvester blandly. Clem laughed and said if he'd practise with her she would accept the offer.

There were no prizes for guessing that Gorbrin would go with Meliandra, Ming with Erica and Jardak with Jaska; any more than anyone expected Theo Weasley and Nell Pettigrew to go with anyone but each other.

Albert Macmillan surprised himself and everyone else by firmly asking Lalita Khan, Assim's little sister, to go with him; and she accepted with a squeal of joy because he was almost a marauder like her big brother. Actually Albert and Lalita had a lot of interests in common since she was a brilliant potioneer and more than competent at Arithmancy; and she was delighted, as Albert was, to be doing so well in her NEWTs so far, taking four subjects with every expectation of doing well in them. Albert was amazed with himself that he was so far doing so well in the five HE was taking; having a proud uncle ready to take an interest in his work was almost as good as having supportive friends!

Herbert MacMillan was also taking an interest in Albert's metalwork, an exciting new subject to him, and was most impressed by the project Albert was building for NEWT, having decided to work on his differencing engine in his own time and demonstrate something different for the higher exam. He had told his uncle about the differencing engine and about muggle computers and Herbert was behind the youth in his desire to pursue the invention into a means of sorting data for the aurors' office, and had been with him to discuss it with Alastor Moody; who recognised that anything that came under the auspices of Herbert MacMillan would not be flighty and might even be a means to increase constant vigilance. Albert's current project, something of a refinement on his second OWL piece, was a map of England enchanted to act like the marauders' map; save that it lay in a frame and scrolled east, west, north or south at will, and enlarged or reduced in scale as required; and most important to Albert, had divining rods fitted so that if he was searching for someone or something the divining rods would cause the map to scroll to the precise part of the map required. He had already half built it over the holidays out of sheer enthusiasm and Jorbal was ecstatic by the complexity of the device and its personal applications to his pupil. The OWL piece, a globe that projected a map of such a part of the world as anyone wanted – with more detail in those regions Albert knew – was a very useful piece of kit to a traveller but this was definitely more refined in its functions, and Herbert MacMillan had, too, taken Albert to all the major wizarding centres in England so he could add them to his map in some detail, so that if he was tracking a particular villain, the footsteps would show up as on the marauding map. He had also had some help from Draco, who thought that it should be standard kit of any forensic dowser.

Albert would actually manage to find plenty to talk about with Lalita!

oOoOo

With the big ones being silly about the ball, the Stripy and Pepperingye Marauders consulted each other over the fact that no-one had pulled a really good stunt of any sort even though it was already after half term and, as Lilith said, she was getting old for being now into double figures.

They agreed that the first year's would-be marauders were doing quite nicely – the 'Daily Prophet', deprived of Darryl to victimise, had run a story on the plague of frogs outside the front door of a Mr Buckley Cooper who could not explain it and nor could the curse-breaker he had hired break it, who had indeed failed to break it.

"And all good to them, though it's not quite enough to invite them in for yet" said Nathan. "But we'll lose our edge if we don't do SOMETHING; and most of us weren't invited to irritate ghosts."

"My counterpoints go well with Lydia's" shrugged Lilith. "We could set up an age line and transfigure for anyone over a certain age sections of corridor into ice and their boots into skates to help them practise for the ball?"

"Some of the staff SO will get waxy about that" said Gennar. "Besides, booby trapping doorways and stretches of corridor is passé."

"Malfoy caddish git" said Lilith without rancour. "I say, there's a poem about Chrysogon Rufus using that muggle superstition about standing on the cracks in paving stones; I know it's kind of a corridor booby trap but why don't we make it so anyone who stands on a crack summons a big plush teddy-bear? We need not permanence them, but it could be funny to have corridors filling with bears."

The others giggled.

"It's jolly silly" said Isambard "Let's do it!"

oOoOo

The twelve junior official marauders used Miss Thirkettle's little poem to make their enchantment together with a lot of Arithmancy and giggling; and the next couple of days saw the main entrance hall filled with loud POPs as teddy bears were summoned out of nowhere as the unwary stood on cracks between the marble tiles on its floor. As the bears were formed out of the imagination of the casters of the concept of 'teddy bear' they were quite varied and disparate and there were some cries to have certain bears permanenced; which as Lilith said was a bit much, because if big girls in the fifth couldn't do that for themselves they were a bunch of poor prunes. And Madam McGonagall took her to her office, fed her biscuits and pumpkin juice and explained kindly that placing a permanence on even inanimate objects was beyond some people taking NEWTs; and firmly informed Lilith that she might take NEWT transfiguration alongside the OWLs in Potions, Ancient Runes, DADA and Charms she was taking this year. Lilith was no end bucked by this and McGonagall went to confess to having given in to a temptation that would only lead to further research in the future from Lilith Snape and the school might as well be prepared.

"Albus will back you" said Sirius "He doesn't have to deal with her after this year as he's retiring."

"Ye ascribe farrr too base a motive to…. Sirius, you are a bad boy teasing like that!" said Minerva. Sirius grinned.

"Well at least she's in a habit of obedience to David; he used to babysit her" he said.

The would-be weird marauders were only sorry that THEY had not thought of using Chrysogon Rufus poetry first!

oOoOo

Late in November the Blood Group assisted in the birthing of Cornelius Albus Ronald Snape to Krait; and were informed by mental communiqué that the Ronald had been added partly just because and partly for the baby having been born with hair as red as Lilith's and small Draxana's. Lilith was delighted.

oOoOo

The Yule Ball was upon them all before anyone realised; and the scenery was spectacular. The Mad Marauders had chosen to make most of the area a frozen lake with a roaring fire as part of the shoreline activities, that threw up mysterious shadows. Trees ringed the lake and disappeared into smoky blue distance up the side of a mountain, lit at the top by the fiery rays of a setting sun, circled by flying dragons. Deer slipped between the trees in soft white forms and Lydia had managed to talk very fast to persuade some real dryads to come to be part of the decorations. Forming illusional facsimiles of their own trees that 'felt' right had been a tricky piece of illusion magic with a good bit of summoning involved as well; and Lydia had to swear that the wolves to be seen occasionally were but illusion themselves and would be no trouble. It was her tribute to her sister Jade.

The music was to be largely Viennese in nature; waltzes and polkas for the main part with some other dances for those who liked them since Lydia was not as contrary as some of her sisters and was happy to accommodate the preferences of others.

As Head Girl she led the dancing with Stoyann, whom she had coached ruthlessly. Stoyann was not the quidditch player his brother was; but he was sportsman enough to pick up skating readily, and Lydia had taught him moves to allow her skill to showcase them both, with lifts and holds to make others gasp.

There were plenty who, whilst impressed by the décor, shuffled nervously once around the edge with their partners and then tried to avoid skating again; but on the whole, the idea of doing something so completely different caught the imagination of the youths, who wanted to have a go, even if they fell over several times. The ice, as Lydia said, broke the social ice quite nicely.

oOoOo

Bella and Mimi had indeed brought along ghostly partners, with the same special gloves Krait had initially made for Abraxus to dance with Myrtle. And Nick was enjoying himself no end, pretending to skate and whirling wildly around with no danger to his head at all! Mimi was a good enough skater to accommodate his antics, having also skated in Austria at Yule most years; and Bella and The Bloody Baron did not even bother to pretend to do anything clever.

It may be said that the SAS and cronies fell over as often as not and giggled a lot about it and probably enjoyed themselves a sight more than most fourth years at a ball for the first time; and if their efforts – Korban Gan Nork exiting the ice by sliding on his backside – were not entirely in keeping with an ice ball, Lydia preferred to see them having fun.

The fourth's surprise stars were Ludmila Yaxley and Damien Malfoy, both of whom had learned to broomsurf and skateboard and who picked up skating with relative ease. Admittedly they were counting out loud as they went through their figures, but they looked rather good for all that!

"Crumbs, look at Faunus and Flora!" said Mad laughing "I wonder if that's going to be a case?"

"If it is, it'll be a war between Damian's aggressive pets and Ludmila's aggressive plants!" said Leo, with feeling. Ludmila's plants were now less of a threat to the Slytherin common room but Leo had been caught by a mating Saggitarius spinifora the week before and had spent half an hour picking the spines out of himself.

Damian was another of Vladimir Malfoy's sons and was as keen on animals as his brother Hadrian; and like him was taking both Care of Magical Beasts and Care of Domestic Magical Beasts to OWL. He was trying to domesticate Knarls – and fighting a losing battle – as well as having acquired a firecrab that he had taken forcefully from someone he declared was not treating it right. He had also adopted one of the Blast-ended Peke puppies.

It has to be said that the nicknames 'Faunus and Flora' stuck thereafter to Damian and Ludmila.

oOoOo

Lydia, greatly daring, asked Professor Dumbledore to dance, as it would be his last Yule ball as Headmaster; and Albus accepted. He was a good dancer; and adapted well and quickly to ice.

"I can see you've skated before sir" said Lydia.

"I have indeed" said Albus "And I must say it's a joy to skate with someone who knows what they are doing."

"Without wanting to be maudlin we ARE going to miss you" said Lydia "Actually I suppose I shan't because I shall be left and teaching in Prince Peak; but you know what I mean. It seems a kind of an end to an era and I need to make a speech to that effect at the end of year without being terminally soppy about it. If there's anything you want me to mention, perhaps you'd think about it in the meantime."

Dumbledore smiled.

"Whatever you say, say it from the heart and it won't be wrong" he said.

Lydia nodded.

"Thank you sir" she said. "You know, I don't know that it would harm announcing it to these older ones at the end of the ball; to give them time to adjust and to get all the silliest ideas of what to get you as a farewell gift from the school out of the way. That we marauders shall get in any case" she added firmly "So you need not worry about getting ormolu clocks that tell you coyly that it's time to get up and nag if you don't."

"I am glad to be preserved from that" said Dumbledore gravely.

"I did have an idea" said Lydia "But I'd like to ask you nicely, sir, to scram before I put it to the kids here; they can pass it on to their youngers in due course."

"I am always happy to be guided by my head girl" Albus twinkled at her. Lydia grinned. Eternally youthful in outlook, Albus Dumbledore would be a tough act to follow; but David would have the various layers of Marauders to help him do just that.

oOoOo

She made the announcement at the end of the ball, calling for silence.

"Professor Dumbledore has given me permission to break the news to you older ones that after this academic year he is retiring; well, don't sound so shocked, the poor man deserves some opportunity to enjoy a bit of peace!" she added as there was a gasp of dismay. "And I wanted to propose a leaving gift."

"A nice clock would be appropriate!" suggested Stuart Markham of Gryffindor's upper sixth.

"Don't be such a silly git, Stuart" said Lydia with more vehemence than tact "He's had to count the minutes for all the years he's been teaching to sort out timetables; a clock is the LAST thing you give a teacher! I thought he might like something more personal myself; because I thought if everyone could write a poem, or a letter, or draw a picture, recount an anecdote of a part of school life they loved, recall a prank, or some such, we might have it all bound; and I'll get in a photographer to do the whole school to fold out for him. And any older siblings or cousins you know who'd like to contribute would be cool too; I'm going to ask Harry Potter, Ludmila, you can ask Neville and Sephara and so on. And we'll include the little kids too but we need to break it to them a little more gently. So you have all next term to come up with something and until just before the exams; I want to get it ready for binding before my NEWTs IF you all please; last minute efforts might get left out. Anyone disagree that this is what Albus Dumbledore would like most – a reminder of his school and his pupils and our love for him?"

"It's bloody brilliant" said Bella. "We'll write out our chant to cure people of not being tigers; he laughed an awful lot over that!"

"Can we just write a story about a favourite day?" asked timid Teela Guffy.

"Oh that's a lovely thing to put in!" said Lydia. "I expect Chad and Mad to come up with some poetry and I guess we HAVE to include the Cauldron Monster Song; and I say, if any of you do more than one thing, I'll either pick the best or put both in, depending on how much room we have. I'm hoping we'll have a massive tome; don't let me down, people!"

There was a chorus of promises that she should have plenty.

Some pieces would be better than others; some barely worth reading. But they would all go in, however clever some of the Ravenclaws tried to be that ended up being – probably – rather pretentious. Save Chrys Lockhart, who she had heard declaiming his own poetry to his schoolmates. Lydia was determined that Albus should be entertained with the piece that ran,

"He's blowing up cauldrons – that evil forebodes

Chrysogon Rufus is gutting horned toads!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Lydia and Mimi and Lilith were looking forward to getting to cuddle their new little brother. They had informed the portrait of Cornelius Slytherin in Connie Hardbroom's office that his youngest descendant was named after him; and the harsh faced portrait had looked rather pleased and had been, for once, almost lost for words!

Mimi too wanted to throw herself into Darryl's arms and hug him.

"Any reporters get past dad's defences?" she asked. Darryl snorted.

"What do YOU think?" he asked.

"More blood meal for the snargaluffs?" laughed Mimi. He chuckled.

"Not that bad; more a question of Strang leaving them dangling for hours in the cable car and then sending them back down" he said. "And Hunnic and Walther asking them searching and impertinent questions and posing – by implication – as Vehmgerichten."

Mimi chuckled.

"That's German Aurors, isn't it? NICE! We had some brouhaha because Robert Spikenard is the world's stupidest – well he's a Gryffindor so I suppose that's tautology – and he said a few stupid things but he wrote to the 'Times' to put it right."

"I read both stories; did I detect Gorbrin's style in the letter he wrote?"

"His and Mel's; Robert's not bad, just dim."

"Definition of most Gryffs" laughed Darryl. He was happy; Mimi was his girlfriend and he had brothers in the persons of Victor Crabbe, an altogether different type to Wilfrid Crabbe with whom he had been wont to associate out of sheer loneliness, and Seagh; who was not a permanent resident at Prince Peak at the moment, since he was poking his nose into various European fey communities doing research. When he was at the castle Seagh was a good companion with a dry sense of humour. And Darryl was not only permitted but encouraged to play with the small Snapes and to be looked upon as an indulgent older brother. It was the only real family he had ever known; and he would do anything to keep it. And because his blood ties told him so, he knew that it was a part of him forever.

Darryl had, too, received a large package from Casimir Malfoy – it had required four owls to carry it – with information about the boy's ancestors.

One of the boy's ancestors was a little slave boy in the seventeenth century, the page to a muggle lady, who had developed magical powers and had managed to escape to the wizarding world; where, ironically enough, he was given succour by goblins since the wizarding community of the time wanted nothing to do with an escaped slave, since it was to be several decades before black and white wizards met in equality. This had led to this child, fancifully named Caesar, for all the world like some pet pooch, and with no recollection of any other name, placing his powers at the disposal of other, muggle, slaves in the British plantations on Jamaica. He married a muggle girl and settled down in England with enough wealth to send his children to Hogwarts, claiming to come from a long wizarding family in Africa; and how true that was might be anyone's guess but, as Casimir wrote, small blame to him for making the claim. The family was always very much at the outside of society from the onset of those uncertain roots, and Caesar's resentment of the way he had been treated. In due course the goblins who had nurtured him came to work for him, there being no other way to thank them; and it was this family that had served Darryl's mother and given the boy his distaste for goblins. Indeed, her factotum and his wife, the goblin housekeeper, Nelaka, were up on charges for abetting Jocasta Zabini in murder, their defence being that their family had always served the Zabinis and they did not feel they had any choice but to be loyal to the mistress. Darryl had sent copies of the papers relating to the long association to the Wizgamot in mitigation since his mother was very good at exerting influence on people, especially those accustomed to serve her who would have few defences against brainwashing. Darryl also wrote a letter that to his recollection the goblins had behaved at all times in a way that was almost as subservient as elves and he felt that any blame accruing to them was minimal.

The rest of his ancestry was somewhat mixed; wizarding and muggle spouses, and a number of hasty marriages and possible spurious lines of descent to cover carefully gained illegitimate heritance seemed to suggest that the women of his family had a tendency to be scheming from the first. Casimir uncovered a law suit against Tiberius Malfoy in 1874 – he would have been fourteen – for paternity of one child.

One thing that came through clearly; the family seem to have married muggles purely with intent of retaining the blackest skin possible as a contrary act to rebuke those who had initially rejected them; and to retain the name Zabini, that Caesar had adopted regardless of the name of any spouse. Darryl's grandmother had been Polynesian which accounted for the particular beauty of his mother and her chance to exploit all the wizarding families she could by seducing rich husbands and killing them. And it seemed likely that Darryl's grandmother had, too, died under mysterious circumstances shortly after Jocasta's third husband had died.

Darryl shared all this with Mimi.

"Well I guess the wizarding world better beware" she giggled "If you produce scheming women and team that with the Snapeness of Snapes, we'll be unbeatable!"

"It's time though for all the resentment and drive to hurt to stop" said Darryl. "This effective feud against all the wizarding world is as childish as Voldemort's."

"Worse; it's lasted generations" said Mimi, sobering "And how sick is that! No wonder your mother's not quite normal if she was reared with that as a mission; as I suppose your brother was. You're the spare; you notice that on the tree, second children often just marry into the wizarding community and effectively vanish into the deep and muddy waters of the wizarding gene pool."

"That's true!" said Darryl, much struck. "I AM glad I'm the second son; I guess I should feel sorry for Blaise."

"Yeah, but not too much" said Mimi. "I think dad ought to go and talk to him; and tell him we know about all this and tell him how silly it is; and hope he reaches him. He WAS Blaise's House Head too, you know" she pulled a face "YUK, and Horace Slughorn was your mother's; and I can almost hear him drooling over her looks and her –rightly – despising him for it!"

"I guess it would have been one more factor to convince her that her face was her fortune and the wizards in the world only there to exploit and use" said Darryl. "And I doubt she was entirely sane even then."

"I don't think she's ever been sane, dear" said Mimi. "And I'm sure the Wizgamot will have her kept safe in St Mungo's."

oOoOo

Niobe was glad to be home for Yule too; not because she was now so miserable that she wanted to be back with her parents, but to hug them and her younger sister and brother and apologise for having been so difficult because of the curse.

She was hugged back.

"We were so worried that you were always so easily upset" said her mother "And, Ashleigh, Rowland and Isambard WE owe you an apology for having taken out our worries on blaming you for things."

"We're just glad to have it sorted out, Mum" said Ashleigh.

"And now I'm a Marauder we cursed a plague of frogs on Uncle Buckley; did you read it in the 'Prophet'?" said Niobe.

"Goodness! YOU did that? But the government curse breaker couldn't break it!" said her father "HOW I laughed…. They sent aurors here to see if I'd done it; I'm glad I didn't know you had! HOW did you manage it? And what's a Marauder?"

"She isn't a PROPER Marauder yet; their group aspire for acceptance" said Isambard "It's a club that works harder than the rest to learn more so we can fight dark wizards; and we swear eternal loyalty. It was started by Harry Potter's dad. The frog jape was a nice one and a point in favour of them being accepted 'cos there's no doubt Uncle Buckley's a dark wizard and after what he did to Sis, he's fair game I reckon. Only us bigger ones are letting Niobe and co let off steam at him first before we let loose what WE can do and believe me it's a lot more sophisticated than frogs. And not all involving magic either" he added. "Lilith suggested arranging to have him pestered by various muggle organisations and if he does anything he gets had up for muggle baiting. Lilith is only a wart but she has some smart ideas."

"And we did it with a chant, daddy; now it's being taught formally" said Niobe "And any competent curse-breaker ought to have been able to break it, Lilith said she could break it with her eyes shut, splinched, and standing on one leg."

"Yes, but Lilith DID take OWL in chanting in her first year" said Isambard "She's a genius."

"That makes me feel better" said Niobe "We're working hard on Arithmancy of course; but some of us find it hard. Chrys really can't get it. That's Chrysogon Rufus, mummy; he's cool."

"Is he such a nice little boy as in the poems?" asked Mrs Cooper.

"Oh much nicer!" said Niobe. "And awfully decent; 'cos I made a nuisance of myself at him when I was cursed and he's been really, really kind; and Seth – he's Professor Dumbledore's son – and Purnima – She's Professor Khan's adopted daughter like Isambard's friend U-may – and Hasibul – that's Professor Khan's nephew; and Veronica; and Walter Crabbe – he was cursed like me only more so, he had to take nearly two years in St Mungo's to be cured of it – and Lavazka."

"Is that a goblin child?" asked Mrs Cooper.

"Half goblin; the other half is a Black-Weasley" said Niobe "Not that it matters, 'cept that Madam Hardbroom is surprised that she's good at potions 'cos Weasleys are supposed to blow cauldrons up and things."

"Half of my friends are goblins, mum" said Isambard impatiently "You KNOW they are; and nowadays it's really NOT nice to comment you know! We have enough racist crap from Makepeace who will have it that anyone who isn't an elf or half elf is getting at her. 'Tisn't that; everyone gets at her because she's a tick. And SHE ain't cursed; she just has a chip on her shoulder. Mimi Snape sits on her; 'cos Mimi's a full blood elf and a big girl – well as big as she can be – and keeps her from saying anything TOO offensively drippy and I say, what's for tea 'cos I'm starving!"

oOoOo

Chrysogon Rufus Lockhart hugged his mother and posed for the cameras before they whisked off into her little car.

"Enjoying school?" Rufina asked her son "I figured as you hadn't written much you either loved it or hated it."

"Sorry mum" Chrys was contrite "I'm having a brilliant time; and I need to make up to the old creep to see if he has any entertaining jinxes in his library."

"TRY not to get too many detentions" sighed his mother. Chrys chuckled.

"Chrysogon Rufus is gutting horned toads!" he chanted "Which actually I haven't; I seem to be reasonable at potioneering but OH! I hate Arithmancy!"

Amadeo Lockhart senior had invited his son – without Rufina – to spend Christmas Day with him.

Chrys wrote a pretty refusal and offered to spend Boxing Day with him instead since Christmas Day was to be spent with family and those special to one. There was making up to his father and then there was hypocrisy; especially as the invitation had been by more a nature of a peremptory summons.

Actually the ability to stand up for himself won approval from the old man.

oOoOo

"I'm NOT calling you Chrysogon!" barked Lockhart.

"Maybe you shouldn't have foisted the silly name on me then when my mum hadn't taken Ancient Runes to know the Greek meaning" retorted Chrys "My friends call me Chrys; which is a serviceable name and wears well. Like my cousin goes by Mad, since he finds Amadeo rather silly and high falutin'."

Lockhart's mouth twitched.

"You'll do" he said.

"Well if that satisfies you, sir, I'm sure I'm very glad for you" said Chrys "But I don't have to 'do' on my own account; so don't for one instant suppose I intend to try to, to get your approval. There's only one thing I want off you and I can probably get it as well if I ask Lucius nicely."

"LUCIUS is it? Cheeky brat! What do you want?"

"A library with a few more esoteric and original jinxes in than in the junior section of the library" said Chrys. "and a few runic books too; I'm no cop at Arithmancy so I shall specialise in ancient runes and chanting."

"Huh! Better than that piffle your mother writes!"

"For one, that piffle sells extremely well; for two, the second and third years used some of it to randomly summon teddy bears whenever anyone passing their cursed area stood on the lines between paving slabs. I wish WE'D though of it" said Chrys. "For a while the main hall was knee deep in teddy bears; hilarious!"

"Merlin's beard!" said Lockhart "More enterprising than in my time! And used one of Rufina's silly little poems?"

"Lydia Snape says, sometimes chanting requires as much of a warped sense of humour as it does Arithmancy" said Chrys "She's a friend of cousin Mad; and champEEN at chanting. She and her friends splinched the headless hunt for making a row and not leaving when asked nicely" said Chrys. "You can do almost anything with chanting."

"Snape? Any relation to the fellow my brother-in-law knows, Potioneer fellow, runs a school in Austria or some such?"

"Yes sir; Lydia and Mimi and Lilith are his daughters. He doesn't want his kids in a school where he's head. I can see it would be difficult" said Chrys. "And Jade, his next daughter up, is the Triwizard champion and his eldest daughter is Madam Draco Malfoy. He was also Harry Potter's guardian so try not to pretend you haven't heard of him, it makes you look an ass, sir."

"Self possessed little devil, aren't you?" growled Lockhart.

"Yes sir; I learned THAT by being the man of the house after my mother was seduced and abandoned by a dirty old man" said Chrys, sick of being sneered at.

"Listen boy, I made the mistake of thinking that she was a gold digger; and that she'd got pregnant on purpose" said Lockhart. "I've since come to the conclusion that no gold digger could graft as hard as she has; nor that she could have been anything but an idiotic little innocent who didn't know enough to prevent herself getting pregnant from the sentimental drivel that she writes. If I'd known she was an innocent I'd never have bedded her; and you're old enough now for me to be straight about that. I have some respect for her for the way she's earned for you; it's why I contacted her a few years ago and told her you might use my name. I don't invite her here because my wife will tolerate my byblow but is likely to go for an ex mistress. We're married in nothing but name but that doesn't stop her being jealous. And you can tell your mother all of this."

"I intended to sir" said Chrys coolly. "If you thought her a golddigger then I see excuse in abandoning her; but you should have fought for custody of her child. Me. I'm glad you didn't; my mum has been a great parent to me."

"I made mistakes; I admit to them. Now, you proud and prickly Lockhart you, will you shake hands and try to meet me half way?" said the old man putting out a hand.

Chrys considered.

"I've had good proof that meeting people half way is usually good" he said, taking his father's hand in his. "I should LIKE to respect my father. And at least you don't try to make me have the surname 'Kept' like that Diomedes Black-Weasley tried to do to his daughter – who's one of my friends under an initial pact against unsatisfactory parents."

"Well well! One of the sanctimonious Weasley breed? Married to someone else I suppose?"

"I suppose" shrugged Chrys "Yes, I think someone said he was. I am glad you have the balls to acknowledge me to your wife."

"You are my blood; SHE is not" said Lockhart. "I'll never abandon her but in some things my will DOES run. And by all means, make full use of the library and tell me if you find anything exciting."

"I shall; best thing we managed to come up with to date was a sending of frogs to Buckley Cooper for cursing his niece – she's another of my friends."

"You kids did that? An impressive piece of work! Should have used Aristophanes if there's anything in this chanting business. Are all your friends girls? Pure Lockhart charm?"

"I guess I have a lot to learn; and I need to learn Finnish too to do naming magic" said Chrys. "And no, my friends are not all girls; we hang out in a group of eight and there's four boys and four girls. Three Gryffs, two Slythers, one Huffer and two Ravers, one of them me."

"Marvellous!" said Lockhart, shaking his head. "Wouldn't have happened in my young day; not at all! Nor in Gilderoy's or Maximus' time either; amazing!"

"Constant Vigilance is a cross-house concept" said Chrys seriously "It is the responsibility of all to make sure another Voldemort does not arise; and sitting on creeps is one way of trying to ensure that doesn't happen. As well as dead fun. And I so want to work out if we can send the jellied furnunculous curse clear all the way down to the southern counties to hit Cooper!" he grinned and batted his eyelashes "Purely in the interests of thaumatological enquiry" he added.

"Scamp!" said his father fondly "Let us go and see what we can find in my library; it has a few rather esoteric works…."

oOoOo

"Do you have a friend called Veronica?" asked Lavazka's mother.

"Yes; she's one of my best friends" said Lavazka "I wish I was in the same house as her, but it doesn't stop us being friends. I have friends in all the houses. Why?"

"Well her foster parents are apparently cousins of your father; and Mr Septimus Black Weasley said his foster daughter had written to him to ask him to find out if Dee really IS Diomedes Black Weasley and Mr SEPTIMUS came to see me and said that whatever happens, he will see his little cousins – you and the triplets – would be taken care of. Wasn't that nice of him? Because Dee came and shouted at me that I had let Professor Dumbledore interfere and that I was ungrateful. It was horrible!" she pursed her lips "But I knew I had to stand up to him for my children; and I told him that if he hadn't insisted on such a degrading name, Professor Dumbledore would probably not have got so curious and if he was that ashamed of having bastards he ought to have left you to go to the free school. And he said he wished he had, and that you would have to because he was writing to say he wasn't paying any more. If Professor Dumbledore hadn't assured me you would have a scholarship I should have begged his pardon and gone on my knees to him; but I was so angry! You are his own flesh and blood! And then Mr Septimus Weasley came and he said he's going to arrange to have his cousin sued on your behalf and let him take THAT publicity for being so unkind as to offer you something and then snatch it away when it wasn't YOUR fault!"

"Crumbs!" said Lavazka "Drama all around; and us thinking freeing Niobe Cooper from a curse laid on her by her rotten uncle was exciting! I say, mum, I think having relatives ought to come with a warning sticker!"

oOoOo

Walter went home to his parents wishing he might have stayed with one of his friends for Yule.

"Have you had a lovely term, darling?" asked his mother "I'm sure you got on very well! Are you going to move up classes soon?"

"I think I'd rather consolidate" said Walter "It's not as though there's a law forbidding me to be at school later than usual; as it WAS medical reasons. I might see if I can work up but I'd rather just enjoy the school experience for now, you know! Besides, I've some nice friends in the year I'm in."

"USEFUL friends I hope?" said his father.

"Well, dad, that depends what you mean by useful; several of them are related to the sort of people it's considered advantageous to know" said Walter "Being the sort that influence the whole wizarding world. Though if you mean am I close to the Malfoy-Tobak twins, no I'm not; they have their set and I have mine. Which is not to say I don't get on fine with them because I do. Neither of them is a Slytherin anyway" he added.

"Who are your friends?" asked his father.

"Well, Hasibul and Purnima are both related to Professor Khan, who's a close friend of the Malfoys and the Blacks; and Seth is Professor Dumbledore's son; and Veronica Crouch is the last living Crouch; Lavvy is a Black-Weasley; Chrys Lockhart is a Lockhart and related of course to Mad Lockhart who knows everyone, and Niobe has older siblings who know assorted Malfoys and Snapes and so on" said Walter. "Niobe's been cursed too, only hers wasn't so excruciatingly well done as mine, and so we have a lot in common. She has an evil uncle" he added "Only it might take some proving that he did it; but apparently Draco Malfoy is on it and he's reckoned the tops at auror work."

"Well I suppose it is a shame you haven't managed to move back into a class with a human Malfoy; you are quite right to maintain a distance, however civil, with those goblins who Lucius is so misguided as to permit to use his name" said his mother.

"Oh Nathan Malfoy has been very decent to me" said Walter. "And he said he'd help me out if I wanted to pull up; and maybe I shall in due course. He understood that I'd like time to just be a schoolboy without being too swotty. I'm good at Arithmancy though so that's the tough one; if I can keep ahead with that I shall be doing fine. We sort of knock around a bit with Nathan and his crowd and Lilith Snape and her crowd anyway."

"Excellent, excellent" said his father "It might be well to keep a distance from the Snape girl though; Severus Snape is a funny tempered fellow. And he wanted you to go to his school some place in the middle of nowhere, not even in England!"

"I expect he thought I might like to be with Victor and in a school where nobody knew I'd been something of a disgrace" said Walter "As I might well have done; though now I have friends I'm happy enough. And nobody has cast up my being cursed at me so it's all right."

"Darling, you weren't a disgrace!" crooned his mother "Just an itsy bitsy bit cursed and with rather high spirits!"

"It's still rather embarrassing" said Walter "Like coming out of having had the babbling curse on you I should think only more so" he stifled a sigh. They would never understand; their way of coping with it was to make out nothing much had happened, to brush it under the carpet. It would be a long Yule; but at least his friends were such as to sound impressive to them. And Walter hated it that he had to make sure his friends were described by who they were related to; not by what they were like.

Well he could perhaps wangle an invite to Malfoy Manor for the Easter hols; his parents would be impressed by that. Especially if their group could establish themselves properly as marauders!

oOoOo

Veronica spent Yule playing with Lynx and Hawke's babies; Purnima and Hasibul went, with Professor Khan, Lalita and Jayashree to India where he would not be close enough to Bella to be disturbed by her delicious scent anywhere near mistletoe; and Seth enjoyed Yule with his little sisters and brother and the various orphans. Albus and Aberforth made a good family Christmas for all the children; and if Seth felt at all guilty that the emphasis was on family fun rather than a strict regimen of prayer he got over it quite quickly.

As Lydia Snape had said, a loving God did NOT expect parents to hound their children to death for something that was born into their nature and as unavoidable as red hair or big flappy ears.

oOoOo

Fart-organs had run their course of popularity on the whole; and this year's Christmas novelty from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was the farmyard saxophone; where one might buy a saxophone that bleated, moo'd or quacked; or indeed one that did the whole lot at random.

Parents across Britain considered sending Howlers to the Weasley twins and wife – as soon as they could be bothered to get up and emerge from tightly held coverlets into the bleating, mooing, quacking cacophony of a family Christmas.

Fortunately for Fred, George and Garjala by the time most people got up they couldn't be bothered to send a howler because there was too much to do.

Bill Weasley called on his brothers and told them grimly that when THEIR offspring were big enough for such things they'd soon stop making noisy Christmas toys.

Fred (or George) chuckled and said that this year they'd been playing the instruments FOR small Ronald Golgo and had great fun. Bill gave up. Fred and George probably wouldn't mind early morning Christmas cacophony!

They played him out with 'good king Wenceslas' that went 'baa baa moo moo quack quack quack; baa moo quack baa moo moo!'

Bill fled.

oOoOo

"Father Christmas; BIG fat man, very, very jolly, no dress sense; Indian" said Hasibul, who had been introduced to 'Goodness gracious me' by the MSHG as Assim and family prepared to distribute gifts to impoverished Indian wizarding children.

Assim clipped him across the back of the head with two fingers.

"Jethro Gibbs – not Indian. But jolly good idea anyway" he said.

oOoOo

Isambard and Niobe spent certain parts of the holiday using the muggle telephone directory to discover certain addresses and met up with Lilith Snape, Veronica Crouch and Chrys Lockhart in Starbuck's. Lilith was quite happy handling muggle money; and there with a wandless _muffliatus_ spell they plotted. They would have to tell the others of their ilk on the train, but it was too good an opportunity to miss to sign Buckley Cooper up for a number of periodicals like 'Gay News', 'Vacuum Repairer's Monthly' and 'Better Hens for Fun and Profit'. As Starbuck's also had an internet café they also entered him for enquiries about viagra, breast enlargements, home insurance, remorgaging, and sliderobes. As Lilith said,

"Whatever spam – that's advertising you don't want – comes up, let's answer on his behalf."

They also set him up an internet account and visited several sites about making bombs and then shopped him to the muggle police.

"That ought to keep him too busy to attack his nieces and nephews" said Isambard in satisfaction "And NOW we send an anonymous owl to the Aurors' office that we suspect him of mugglebaiting."

"As good as done" grinned Lilith "I only wish I could arrange to have a credit card set up for him and charge the coffee to it; but he hasn't of course got a muggle bank account. Heh, and THAT's going to look suspicious to the muggle police too!" she gloated.

As a last act of retribution – for the time being – and bearing in mind Hasibul's suggestion to send him an elephant, they made an on-line order with Hamleys to send him three hundred stuffed toy ferrets (assorted sizes). This being a reference to his desire to turn his nieces and nephews into blood-sucking ferrets it was to be hoped that he would get the message.

"Isn't this going to run to a lot of money?" said Niobe.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm stinking rich and so is Veronica and Chrys is doing all right; and frankly we'd as soon spend some dough on stiffing dark wizards as on anything else" said Lilith "You're proto-marauders; and marauders pool resources you know."

"Well, if you don't mind" said Niobe.

"She means we don't like to be beholden" said Isambard. "But also that we accept that this is part of marauding. And as marauders we're here to do what we can, each of us, right?"

"Right" said Lilith her purple eyes luminous with mischief and joy "And we can have fun doing it too; hey, it's only money, let's make it work for us!"

oOoOo

Local muggle newspapers spoke, the day before they went back to school, of a terrorist suspect who had assaulted six armed police officers and escaped and had not yet been recaptured; a bad picture and a better description accompanied the story with a warning that he was to be considered armed and dangerous and had some form of taser or laser device that could burn nastily and could produce a charge that was enough to kill as one officer had been murdered. The newspaper reported that as a number of furry toys had been found on Mr Cooper's premises it was surmised that he intended to hide explosives in these and use them to target the softest targets of all, in the persons of children. The public were warned not to approach him.

"Oh dear" said Lilith "I never thought he'd be so stupid as to use _Avada Kedavra_ on a muggle; daddy, if he has dependants, can we bring him back?"

"My dear, not if he's a muggle; he'll have gone beyond the veil!" said Severus "That IS most unfortunate; and it demonstrates how consequences can get out of hand. However, you could not have reasonably supposed him to have been so violent; any normal wizard would have waited until he was alone in a cell and apparated away. I'll report this to Moody; and see if I can find out if the policeman left dependants. If so, it will be the responsibility of the Marauders to see them supported."

Lilith nodded, tears in her eyes. She never intended anyone to die of this – the worst she expected was a blatant use of magic to escape.

It was a bitter lesson about how ruthless the truly nasty could be.

oOoOo

As it turned out, the policeman who died had been unmarried and left nobody but his colleagues to mourn him; and their comments made it clear he was inclined to be rather gung-ho and his death was not great surprise. As Severus also uncovered several investigations involving the man mentioning excessive violence, he might well have invited the use of excessive force on Cooper's part; and this he passed on to Lilith as some mitigation.

"He should not have used the killing curse; but at least he did it to one who sounds like he would have been happy to use it himself if he had it available" he said. "And what the newspaper did NOT say was that Cooper was shot and wounded."

"And now has knowledge of the efficacy of muggle firearms" said Krait, grimly.

"Or maybe not" said Severus "Goblin firearms can wound someone if they fail to get a shield up; and I suspect he will not realise the significance of the shape, size and depth of any bullet hole. He will have apparated away and extracted the bullet with _accio_ if it did not pass right through and then used _episkayo_ because his own safety will have concerned him more than any forensic analysis."

oOoOo

The muggle police spoke to Buckley's brother who told them firmly that he had not seen his brother for years, since Buckley had made threats towards the children; and that of course he would notify the authorities if his brother came anywhere near. Fortunately he did NOT mention the magical line of exclusion that prevented Buckley coming anywhere near.

And the secretary of Hogwarts School – Ross Tuthill – took the call from a concerned chief inspector over the safety of the Cooper children and assured him that security was very tight because of the perennial chance of kidnap of the richer pupils and promised to keep a close eye on Ashleigh, Rowland, Isambard and Niobe.

Which indeed the school authorities intended to do anyway.

And Draco was on the platform to borrow Albert and his divining map to catch Cooper before he hurt any more muggles – or before he tried to avenge himself on the children.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Two layers of marauders and the proto-marauders squeezed – somehow – into a compartment and discussed the events of the holidays. Those who had not been part of the muggling of Buckley Cooper – they coined the verb 'to muggle' for the purpose – were much disappointed to have been left out but accepted that the time had been right.

"And he's on the loose and out to kill us?" said Lavazka.

"Well he's on the loose and out to kill US" said Niobe "Us Cooper kids that is."

"Well that's what being marauders is about" said Nathan "To flush out dark wizards and deal with them. And I say, I know he killed a muggle, and I'm sorry about that, though the police that get to carry firearms are the ones who expect to risk their lives, but how do we know he hasn't quietly killed more muggles that nobody knows about? Or turned them into animals? If he wrote to the paper to ask if he could get away with turning his own kindred into blood sucking ferrets it seems to me that's a means he thinks of to deal with anyone inconvenient – like maybe neighbours who irritate him."

"I SAY, that's a very good point, actually" said Lilith "And it doesn't show up like a killing, because muggles investigate all sudden death, but they sort of assume if people disappear, if they're adult, they wanted to; and don't take it seriously even when relatives get worried. And people who became animals would just effectively disappear, and HE wouldn't keep their brains intact so they can't even TRY to ask for help!"

"So are we going to leave it to the aurors or use the Coopers as bait?" said Sextus "Or even several of us having polyjuice potion to seem like the Cooper kids?"

"It's to bear in mind" said Lilith "I bought the ingredients of polyjuice potion and I brewed up the lacewings and put them in a locker I enchanted to be a storage cabinet with a repelling charm on the outside so nobody else is likely to look in it. We can finish it off any time. And it should be those of us already – uh, in the marauders."

"We guessed about the blood magic" said Chrys "You mean anyone linked in."

"Yes" said Lilith "WE were only brought in early because they were prepared to risk us to back my sister spying on Odessa; you lot are so going to have to be spectacular to convince the big people to let you blood early. 'Course you can get a limited blooding to the rest of us by joining to Purnima and Seth but unless it becomes necessary in a hurry, it's a little bit dishonourable. Kinda like gatecrashing."

"If I was Buckley Cooper" said Sextus "Do you know what I'd do?"

"Something cleverer than a creep who writes to ask the 'Prophet' if he can perform illegal transfigurations I should imagine" said Lilith "But grant him half a brain cell, try to act stupid and give us an idea."

Sextus grinned.

"Well once you've cast the killing curse, you just so know that someone is going to get on your case, right?" he said "And that someone is going to get there quicker when there aren't hordes of deatheaters. So he gets away; heals the wounds; and then he just KNOWS that aurors are after him, right?"

"Right" several people said .

"So he wants to lurk in some place with the fidelius charm on it, right?" said Sextus.

"If he can cast it" said Jingjie.

"What do you mean? WE all cast it" said Sextus. "Lilith showed us how. Simple!

"HHRHM!" said Jingjie "My dear kids. For one, Lilith is a genius who also knows more than most grownups think is good for her and even at that I bet they don't know half of what she knows. I bet they don't even know half of what we confirmed marauders know; because we poke about in forbidden books and dusty tomes that nobody's read for years and if that's because nine out of ten of them are boring, the tenth has gems hidden in it."

"That's true; there were some lovely snippets in my father's library" said Chrys "He and I being kinda reconciled and he having apologised lots."

"Exactly. Where was I?" said Jingjie.

"Getting pompous over the fact that we're nosier than most grownups and know an awful lot more than lots of them do" said Wanda.

"Being rude by being right is NOT an attractive trait" said Jingjie. Wanda giggled at him.

"Put it this way" said Wanda "I know WAY more than my sister and actually I know more than my parents which is a bit scary. Because she was moaning about a holiday assignment involving cross species switching and I made a few suggestions about what to put in, and she was dead chuffed only a little put out at where I'd picked it up. And most of the sixth who weren't marauders were sort of baffled by how you kids hid the Quidditch pitch last year."

"Well don't we have to assume he CAN do stuff unless it's proven he can't?" said Sextus "I mean if they run him to earth skulking in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade we assume he don't know; but I'd set up a brief fidelius charm somewhere to get my breath back; then cast invisibility on myself and apparate BACK to my house and bung a fidelius on, oh, a couple of rooms inside so the muggles don't lose it and so any aurors watching don't realise it's not apparently there any more, so I can gather up my own stuff at my leisure and either continue to lurk there or move on somewhere else. Go abroad, even."

"Good job you aren't a dark wizard on the run!" laughed Charis Rawlins "Because I reckon you're already cleverer and more efficient than Voldemort, let alone this Uncle Buckley character."

"We need to get Ross to find out if any of his neighbours have ever been reported missing and then alert aurors" said Nathan. "If we'd thought of it before the hols we could have gone looking and fed every ferret we could find mandragora."

"Well if the aurors don't get on it we have that for Easter" said Lilith "A couple more months won't make much difference."

oOoOo

Apart from farmyard saxophones, the must-have toy for Christmas had been the newly shinily published version of 'Beat Voldemort', with amendments as suggested by the various Malfoy children and their cronies who had playtested it so thoroughly. A number of copies were extracted from hand luggage on the train, and the majority of the occupants were kept occupied, if not quietly, at least without mischief beyond the fictional kind of playing at being Harry Potter and friends determinedly escaping from those teachers who thought they ought to be kept safe while trying to outwit Voldemort and his Deatheaters, as played by the magical programming of the game. The graphics had, as Hadrian put it, improved no end, with projections of what might be seen according to what square the player's little figure was on; and the figures moved through, and interacted with the landscape.

"He hasn't put in all the secret passages though, so don't go relying on using them" warned Nathan "On account of not wanting to spoil the fun of looking for them if anyone preschool plays."

It was a game with enough complexities not to be despised by the young adults of the sixth; though when slightly pompous Stuart Markham asked Lydia if she would care to join a game, Lydia said

"No offence, Stu, but those of us who were here to beat Voldemort for real the first time round really do NOT want to be reminded of it, thanks."

This put rather a damper on the enthusiasm of the Gryffindor sixth until Arjeela Konal said loudly

"We appreciate Lydia's lack of enthusiasm but I think the rest of us could get some valuable insights by playing; thanks, Stuart, I'm in for one."

"Thanks Arjeela" said Stuart.

"I agree" said Lydia "I don't mean to be a wet blanket; but Lucius has toned it down such a lot to publish and I know way more than is comfortable about the dark items you need to collect. The tip is, you either need a Parselmouth or a Gryffindor of good standing to get either a basilisk tooth or Godric Gryffindor's sword to destroy them; and remember they fight back. This is important; JUST in case any of you chaps come upon the real thing. I'll leave you to it; hope you forgive my foibles. I'll see if Leo, Mad and Chad will join you."

She was variously and sympathetically patted on the back as she went in search of her other cronies to send to join in. They knew without knowing from a personal point of view, and were far enough removed to enjoy the game. And Lucius was quite right to publish it; for it kept the perfidies of Tom Riddle alive so that none should forget them in a far more memorable way than mere stories in history books.

oOoOo

Niobe went on her own to the loo when her group and the two lots of marauders separated into the comfort of three different carriages; and on the way back Wilfrid Crabbe confronted her.

"You're that nasty little cry-baby weevil" he sneered "Well I reckon it's time to give you something to cry about to show you that we don't like cry-babies in Slytherin House."

"You ARE behind the times, Crabbe" said Niobe, trying to hide her fear "I got over suffering from a cursed item; like your own cousin. He's my friend now; and if you hurt me I guess we might all work together to retaliate."

He sneered.

"I heard all about you from Isambard last year; you don't make friends. But I might let you be my fag if you beg nicely to be my slave instead of just making you cry."

"In your dreams you big bully!" suddenly Niobe was more angry than scared "_expelliarmus!_" she cried as he got his wand out. It was one of the first spells taught by the MSHG to those who did not know it. His wand flew from his hand, and Niobe head-butted him and slipped past him to run to her friends.

Shortly thereafter, Crabbe was confronted by eight weevils, including his own cousin.

"Wilfrid Crabbe" said Seth "We have written up an unbreakable vow for you to undertake to prevent you from attacking any more kids smaller than yourself. You can take the vow right away or we can jinx you into a ball – which collectively we can do – until you give in. You threatened one of us weevils."

Crabbe had regained his wand by now and hurled a stinging hex at Seth; which the boy deftly countered.

"You ought to KNOW by now that those of us who aspire to maraud are out of your league, pudding face" said Veronica. "I grew up with Leo Black-Weasley as a foster brother; and as he's a year older than you he warned me about you and said you were a nasty, if a rather stupid and inefficient git. Take the vow or take the consequences."

"I'll not be forced into a vow by a bunch of little brats!" said Crabbe, and went to force his way through them, expecting to use sheer body mass to clear them and knock them down.

It was a poor choice. The children linked arms and stood together; and it was an impasse.

Chrys started chanting,

"_Won't you greet my teddy bear_

_he's stuffed with soft white cotton down_

_he's never sad, has not a care_

_and on his face is ne'er a frown._

_Won't you greet my teddy bear_

_With golden yellow fur and fluff_

_And big glass eyes with which to stare_

_And deep inside a growl so gruff."_

He repeated it several times over as the others held their wands on Wilfrid Crabbe who with a yelp started growing soft golden fur and changing in proportion until he was indubitably a teddy bear. A living, moving teddy bear, but with sewn paws that could not hold a wand.

"You rotten kids!" he growled "I'll GET you for this!"

"Oh but you WON'T Crabbe" said Chrys "Because the only curse breakers in the school who know how are other marauders; and they aren't hardly likely to. Only WE can get you out of it and only if you take the unbreakable vow first."

The teddy bear fled in search of a prefect. He found Lydia.

"Good grief!" said Lydia waving her wand "Crabbe? Have you been bullying the little ones again? I would have thought you would have learned by now!"

"Those rotten weevils want to force an unbreakable vow on me!" growled Teddy Crabbe.

"Hmmm. Drastic" said Lydia "Let's go and see what this is all about."

oOoOo

The eight all explained at once, but Lydia had enough little brothers and sisters, as well as plenty of experience with younger schoolchildren, to unravel it.

"I see" she said "An unbreakable vow is a drastic move. I however rather fancy that I can come up with a more certain way to make Mr Crabbe stay in line and not pick on what he assumes are the vulnerable ones. It's a little trick I learned from my sister" she added; and made a pass in front of Crabbe's face. He started screaming in as falsetto a tone as a fifteen-stone teddy bear can manage. Lydia made a cutting motion in front of his furry face and he stared at her in horror. "Now then, Mr Crabbe" said Lydia pleasantly "Any time that you feel such urges to hurt, bully or intimidate those weaker than yourself, that comes back; and lasts until you resolve to stop hurting the person you are trying to hurt. Every mean, malicious thought will remind you of it. I've tied it to actions like casting spells with intent to hurt or cause fear and physical actions with intent to cause fear, or thoughts involving detailed plans – as detailed as a retard like you can manage – to hurt anyone. That ought to make you well known for your philanthropy and kindness in the future, Mr Crabbe. Now permit me to deteddify you if I may coin a word."

Lydia whistled the teddy bears' picnic to remove the layers of chanted curse; and Crabbe fled thankfully.

"Make sure you don't tip the desire to stop bullies into bullying, you kids" said Lydia "It was a nice idea and fine based on what you know but unbreakable vows are so….unbreakable. Making him see his worst fears but ONLY when he's actively about to bully someone means that his future is as much in his hands as with an unbreakable vow, but it's less drastic. You'll learn how to do that when you're a bit older."

"Why do we have to be older?" asked Veronica.

"Why, are you already a skilled legilimens?" asked Lydia.

"No" admitted Veronica

"Then you don't have the basic skills" shrugged Lydia "You can practise legilimensy and occlumensy on each other if you like; Jade and I did when we were seven and eight because we were afraid Voldemort might kidnap us and ask about our parents. It's not usually considered a common skill even in the sixth but it worked for us. And if Lilith hasn't taught her lot I'll be surprised! Seth, your dad is the greatest legilimens in the world; so I'm sure YOU'll pick it up well enough. Now get about your lawful occasions and try not to provide me with any more teddy bears."

Legilimensy and occlumensy ought to keep them sufficiently occupied that they were unlikely to be any more trouble!

oOoOo

A gaggle of laughing, chattering children returned to the castle with Nathan saying at the top of his voice,

"Ay say, top hole old fruits, back in jolly old Scotland for the jolly old grouse shootin' wot?"

"We don't shoot grouse" giggled U-may.

"Don't you think Wilfrid Crabbe is a bit of a grouse?" said Nathan, innocently.

"That's louse" said Charis.

Crabbe scowled and said nothing.

"No, he does mean grouse" said Isambard "Looking at him grousing round the garden like a teddy bear."

Crabbe stalked on into the castle grinding his teeth.

oOoOo

The Pepperingye Marauders had a jape they wanted to try and proceeded, on the first fine morning there was, to take a bed out for a sail. They sewed sheets about the legs to make a skirt and proceeded to enchant it to act as a hovercraft powered – in the traditional manner – by a bedknob. They borrowed Argus Filch's bed for the purpose by the expedient of wheedling and promising him plenty-lots-many chores – Wanda's phrase – so they could have a proper iron framed bedstead with brass knobs. They drove it over the snow and across the lake, on which they unfurled both the Jolly Roger and the Union Jack.

"And WHIT d'ye think yer doing, breaking who kens how mony laws but notably the one concairning the misuse of orrdinary objects that shouldnae fly?" demanded McGonagall.

"I beg you pardon for contradicting, Madam McGonagall" said Nathan "But we were NOT flying; we used it as a hovercraft, which is a movement caused by ground effect and requires a cushion of air to move upon as may be used over land or water with equal efficacy. Muggles do not count hovercraft as flying machines so I don't think we've actually broken any laws; I looked up the statute books in dad's libraries and there isn't a single paragraph on enchanting things to be hovercraft."

"Oh dear" said McGonagall who sometimes wished that marauders who stayed within the absolute letter of the law were not more trouble than those who blatantly flouted every rule they could manage to. "And WHY is it wriggling?"

"Because our hovercraft is full of eels" said Nathan patiently.

"Down the drive, through the village and there's the station" giggled Jingjie.

Someone had been unwise enough to introduce the Pepperingye Marauders to Monty Python. When they dismounted they had promptly summoned a dozen eels just to make the joke.

McGonagall gave up and merely told them sharply to clear up the mess!

oOoOo

Lilith, who was taking four OWLs and a NEWT, told her group that she would have only limited time for japes as the exams drew nearer and so they'd jolly well better come up with something soon if they planned to do one this term.

"Trouble is, we sort of surpassed ourselves so in the first year by making everyone sound like house-elves on butter beer and by hiding the quidditch pitch that we almost outsmarted ourselves" said Sextus.

"We didn't do a bad job with summoning teddy bears" said Jayashree.

"Yes but that was joint with the others; like the helium jape" said Venus "We want one that's all ours."

"Library work" said Kazrael.

"Say again without the mental gymnastical short cuts" said Gennar.

"We want to do something that fools big ones the way the Mad Marauders made Ravenclaws put on a false diadem and spout silly rhymes" said Kazrael. "A sort of library work treasure hunt; rumours of real treasure are all very well for little kids – like us – but for big ones the real treasure is academic recognition. And though that Raver Patil girl did apologise for poisoning Lilith I wouldn't mind seeing if we can't make her look as silly as she is."

"And Xanthia Fawcett and Emerald Cherrytree" giggled Lilith "They're almost as bad."

"And a few others" said Sextus "I'm starting to like it, Kazzy. What do we get them to hunt?"

"Well this Easter is the tenth anniversary of beating Tom Riddle" said Kazrael "S'pose there were clues that he left a detailed plan to take over the wizarding world? Finding that would guarantee a full page in some of the sillier papers; and probably even the 'Times' because it's history. How we get them to do it I'm not so sure."

"Let one of them find a letter he wrote to a known Deatheater who's dead and can't refute it" said Lilith "I bet I can do his handwriting. A letter saying that he has written his whole intent and hidden it in an enchanted part of the library and – and I think this'd be a master stroke and proof to the sillier that it WAS Tom Riddle that wrote it – give a clue in Parseltongue. One that they can use the stuff Herpo the Foul wrote to be able to translate so it's tough but not TOO tough. And then bite off a bit of shelf with wizarding space and hide it there. Of course, Riddle would have hidden it with a Parseltongue pass-word; but we can hope they'll be too eager and greedy to remember that! And we write that it's been bound in the skin of his enemies so they get a yukky sort of thrill, and what we do is to make sure that the book is written in a code so complex they can't translate it, account of how we just make it up as we go along; and enchanted so that on April first every page says 'April Fool'!"

"WICKED!" said Gennar. "When is Easter?"

"Eighth of April" said Lilith. "It was the thirtieth March in 1997; the celebrations will take place at the beginning of the summer term before the exams, because it was a few weeks into the summer term that they killed him. So that give the person we're winding up time to creep back under a stone."

"What do we use for human skin to bind it?" asked Charis practically.

"HONESTLY!" said Lilith "Do YOU know what human skin feels like for binding?"

"Er, no" said Charis.

"And ya think THEY will either? We use a muggle-made synthetic leather that feels just wrong enough so they think it's horrid" said Lilith.

It was voted a brilliant plan and research began immediately to execute it.

It may be said that Madam Hardbroom and Madam McGonagall were inclined to view the increased library use of any group of marauders with more misgivings than to take it as proof of virtuous hard work; but one could scarcely tell children off for assiduous work in the library, especially when their own work remained on par with their usual high standards.

"And if I wasnae a'ready grey, Lilith Snape would surely drive me tae grey hairs!" opined Minerva "And if not her, then the rest o' those wee limbs!"

oOoOo

There were commemorative items on sale everywhere to celebrate it being the tenth anniversary of Voldemort's death; and several children had bought such things as scarves and flags saying 'ten years on!' and similar slogans.

"I'm surprised YOU haven't got a commemorative scarf, Lilith, with your parents being so involved!" said Roxanne Shacklebolt "As you are so fond of reminding us!"

"I believe" said Lilith mildly, with a snaky look "It was the staff who reminded you; not ME. Besides, I do have something to commemorate it."

"What?" demanded Shacklebolt.

"I was born blood-joined to Harry Potter; and I got to have this when he and Tom Riddle fought" said Lilith quietly, pointing to the zig-zag scar.

Shacklebolt gasped and her dark skin darkened further with a flush.

"Yeah; I guess that's all she needs" said Gennar. "Your cousin was there too; and he was well cool by all accounts, protected the muggle Prime Minister from deatheaters too. Why you can't be proud on his account instead of sniping at Lilith I don't know. I'm proud of my dad – both my dads, actually, my real one for standing up for the rights Harry wanted goblins to have and Lucius for fooling Tom Riddle. And two of my mums were at the battle of Hogwarts too. I guess those of us who have actual family involved don't need mementoes; because they're for sad gits who want some kind of second hand involvement. That YOU don't need any more than we do, Shacklebolt. Even if dad did commission a propeller beanie with 'I killed Voldemort' on it for Harry just so Harry could laugh and call him a git. Dad's like that sometimes you know."

"Poor Harry" said Lilith "There's going to be a whacking great party and he's going to have to give a speech and I say, if the aurors haven't caught up with Buckley Cooper by then, what a perfect way for him to get close to his nieces and nephews to cause them harm when all the world and his kid brother and the troll chauffeur turn up to the open day."

"Aw cobnuts!" said Gennar. "Then for that reason we ought to protect Niobe at least even if not the others…. We'd better see Lydia."

There had been no news about an arrest to date; and Sextus was looking smug that it seemed likely that Buckley Cooper was using the Fidelius Charm after all.

Lydia looked grim.

"Niobe must be protected" she said. "And Isambard already is; and if we involve Niobe we had better involve all the others. Two already are, after all; we shall blood them eventually anyway, holding off for their protection when they might be more at risk NOT blooded is silly. I'm not sure what to do about Ashleigh and Rowland. Ashleigh's a nice enough girl, but I don't think she's blood group material. And likewise Rowland; he's a nice, well behaved lad, with a decent skill at poetry that will see him do well in chanting but he's not really…"

"Limited?" said Lilith "Like Albus was before he joined fully in the summer?"

Lydia nodded.

"That might work" she said "And if they get closer to us through that, they may want to blood fully in the future; and if they want to, they'll be ready to."

oOoOo

"Look here you two" said Lydia, who had asked the two older Coopers to step into her office as head girl "It's been pointed out to me that with half the world coming to the 'Tom Riddle is decomposing' celebrations your ruddy uncle could slip in unnoticed and do the dirty on any one of you four at school."

"Oh hell!" said Ashleigh "What do we do?"

"Well I've a suggestion" said Lydia "Rowland, you see more than you say for all that you wear a drippy and half asleep expression half the time."

Rowland smiled at her.

"My glorious head girl is filled with compliments" he said with gentle irony.

"Well you ARE bright" said Lydia "And I wager YOU'VE guessed about the Blood Group."

"It is a little obvious" said Rowland.

"What blood group? What do you mean?" asked Ashleigh. "Has this something to do with Professor Snape's book then?"

"Those of us who maraud – and a few others – are joined, same way the original ones of us were joined to Harry, by a ritual sharing of blood" said Lydia "It enables us to bleed for each other, bounce the killing curse and sundry little things like that. And know where each other is. Now I'm not suggesting a full blooding; you've neither of you shown any desire to be a part of us. But a limited joining would mean if I join with you I can be a focus to take a killing curse meant for you, or to apport precisely to where you were if you were kidnapped."

"But what about the little ones? They are at risk too!" said Ashleigh.

"Isambard's been a full member for more than a year; and as Niobe wants to maraud too we'll bring in her group earlier than we usually like to" said Lydia

"Good grief!" said Ashleigh blankly "I had no idea!"

"The first rule of fight club is, we don't talk about fight club" murmured Lydia who had heard the reference even though it had not been a film thought suitable for the MSHG. Hawke and Abraxus sometimes watched the most awful drivel on television. "It IS a secret because of the fact that some people kick up a shindy about blood magic without actually stopping to engage brain first."

"Actually" said Ashleigh, flushing "It would be a tremendous honour to be even a little bit part of what helped Harry Potter; especially this year."

"I appreciate the sentiments; but I have to say those of us who were there aren't actually counting the years, we're just glad the egregious little git is dead" said Lydia. "If you did decide to blood in fully later, that would be your decision but it's a big thing to ask of someone who hasn't already pledged to maraud."

"What er, what do we do?" asked Rowland.

Lydia got out a silver knife.

"Slit your thumb pads" she said "And we mingle blood; I can handle the ritual side of it for you and make so you don't get any effects from us."

"What sort of effects?" asked Ashleigh.

"Feeling when people give birth for example" said Lydia "We share it out around so there's less pain involved for the person birthing. Not that mum gave us much hassle with Cornelius in November, he shot out like a weasel from a rabbit hole. But it's given that we shield other pregnant people and those who are very young. Like we were helping Cornelius himself deal with having his head squished on the way out. With a limited joining too, it won't pass to YOUR children; the full joining does. And that's something you need to be aware of. Isambard and Niobe will marry marauders; marauders always marry marauders. And when the younger two come up….. actually, Ashleigh, if you can get them to blood a bit with you in the hols, even if your parents bring them to the bean feast and he IS here we can feel through me through you. Naomi is old enough to be explained to; what about little Virgil?"

"Virgil is a good kid; he'll understand it's to find him if he gets lost" said Ashleigh "Which is all he needs to know."

Lydia nodded.

"Good; thanks for being reasonable about it."

Ashleigh shrugged.

"You marauders have gone out of your way to help my kid sister; and that means a lot to Rowland and me. We have our family back; and if Niobe is happy with her friends and they're going to maraud and help other people I guess I can't be silly and worry about her. Marauders fall on their feet, like cats."

"Or rather we heave each other out of scrapes" said Lydia. "Once she's fully blooded you'll never have to worry about her being hurt, kidnapped, poisoned, cursed or anything ever again; there's so many of us we just will things like that away, like we did when that Raver idiot poisoned Lilith."

"THAT is powerful" said Rowland "I was close enough to hear Padfoot say it could have killed a child her weight with heart failure."

"Yes" said Lydia grimly. "Well, she sent a written apology."

"I shouldn't worry if I was you about stitching her up" said Rowland with a dreamy smile "I heard your sister and her lot in full cry for library books in search of whatever would attract stuffy and stuck up Ravers."

"I think I wasn't wearing my head girl's hat when you said that; I don't want to know!" said Lydia firmly "I wonder what…. No, I shall NOT speculate. It might be worrying."

Rowland grinned; and both Coopers slit their thumbs to join a limited bond with Lydia.

And the marauders would have a full blooding with the first years soon.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The ceremony went with the usual swing – and cocoa – with the six new members awed to be joined to the other two of their ilk and sundry large people too; and to feel people they had never met!

"It's a bit unprecedented, having five full groups in school all at once" said Lydia "And indeed to bring in weevils; we only brought in the stripy marauders because their japes were so spectacular AND because they did some real and serious research around the use of twenty-three and twenty-three factorial that is, a lot of it, marauding secrets because it's dangerously powerful. We'll let you in on marauding secrets gradually so you get the fun of finding some of the passages by yourselves. You should have come in next year but as we have to protect Niobe from her rotten uncle we thought the rest of you may as well come in on it as well. It'll be a busy couple of terms with all the crap about Riddle being dead ten years, like it makes any difference how long he's been dead. If it was a celebration that the government hasn't made any serious foul ups in the mean time that might be meaningful but what do I know? I was only there when we killed him."

"Get off your hobby horse" said Chad lazily "I say, I'm hearing rumours that someone thinks there might be a book he left in the library; and bear in mind, you smaller people, that books written by Tom Riddle are DANGEROUS because they hold mind-controlling traps in them. His diary taught Ginny Weasley Parseltongue to get into the Chamber of Secrets and controlled her utterly."

"Uh, Chad" said Lilith "As one Marauder to another, I think I should tell you to disregard any rumours about the Parseltongue 'Mein Kampf'."

Chad shot her a look.

"What do you know about it?"

"Not a lot yet; I haven't finished writing it" said Lilith calmly. He stared; as did all the Mad Marauders.

"You little….. you mean it's all a wind up?" said Mad.

Lilith beamed.

"They are FAR too good" said Bella "It's wonderful… to catch out silly Ravenclaws I suppose?"

"Why not?" said Lilith "There weren't any Ravers except Luna Lovegood involved at the time. They feel it deeply and want a piece of the action. And if they're daft enough to bite and swallow whole well, that's THEIR problem."

"Point" said Chad. "We have such a silly group of girls in the middle school. Try not to actually entrap them TOO drastically with spells, kid; you're harder than you realise."

"We were going to write a load of nonsense and set it up to change on an appropriate date to 'April Fool'" said Lilith. "And we weren't going to tell you prefects only if you were going to get involved in looking for it to keep the world safe for civilisation we don't want to stiff you."

"Thank you" said Lydia dryly. "Well, if you are playing games of re-enactment for your own ten year celebration and other silly people think a children's game is real, it's no business of the head girl."

Lilith squealed with delight and hugged her.

Lydia kissed her little sister fondly and reflected that Chad was quite right to warn Lilith off from adding traps into books; frankly, she though Lilith was already as capable as Voldemort in many ways and potentially was far more dangerous. It was fortunate that Lilith had no desire to rule the world; she would probably succeed.

oOoOo

Part of Lilith's wind up involved poking around in the library – which she did anyway – and hidden behind some dusty old tomes she found a slim volume.

It was soft backed and bound with vellum and was tooled with gold with the words, 'From confundment to worship; how to control the weak minded' by Scipio Prince.

It looked as though daddy was not the first Prince to be interested in the Dark Arts, thought Lilith, opening up the book to read.

The first few chapters were nothing new and she skimmed them quickly; deep set compulsions and legilimensy were things she had long known about. The handwritten notes however made her eyes narrow; she recognised the hand AND the fact that they were partly in Herpo the Foul's Parseltongue notation. And then Lilith was aware that the words were themselves partly at least a compulsion and she reached for her bloodkin to help her fight. Lilith was fairly certain she could avoid the trap without aid; but it never went amiss to have an overkill against dark magic.

Part of the notes were about how to use the suggestions made in the book; part were an attempt to place a deep control in the reader.

"Hmm" mused Lilith, sending her thoughts to her kindred "Presumably a safeguard in case anyone else found the book; to make sure Riddle was the only one controlling people. I recall Madam Spikenard warning me that dad was not the only person to write in margins; I must say thank you, because I was wary reading because I half remembered someone saying something. This Prince isn't half as good as daddy" she added faintly contemptuously.

The slim volume showed where Voldemort had got some of his ideas from; even the spell to cause intense pleasure. The idea of teaming it with the cruciatus curse appeared to have been Voldemort's own twisted idea. Scipio Prince merely suggested using it to addict followers so they would do anything for a dose of it. The same section suggested the use of Felix Felicis to addict those who were to be short term tools as the effects were ultimately fatal.

"LAArvely fellow" murmured Lilith, deciding that this book needed to be in the restricted section of the marauders' private library.

She avoided doing more than skimming every third word of Riddle's notes on the page where the pleasure spell was; and quickly came to the conclusion that it would directly cast the spell by reading it, and that it was intended that the reader would be so taken with the effects – three minutes worth of pure pleasure – that they would sit and read it over and over again until either they were found – perhaps by Riddle himself, as he intended it – or until they died of dehydration. Lilith assessed that if anyone was weak minded enough to read it through a second time they would not then be able to tear themselves away from it though it was killing them. A rather horrible idea, that the trap should make someone willingly embrace their own death. She used her wand. There was a means to store the death energy of anyone who died thus to convert this book to a horcrux if need be; one he had not used for having decided that the House treasures were more significant to him.

Lilith apparated directly to the marauding room and wrote a warning about the contents that she slipped into the front of the book before placing it in the section of extra fidelius charm that she should not have been able to reach had not Lilith managed to observe a similarly dangerous book being put away.

Lilith was like that.

Well, that was all very interesting, and it was good to get the thing hidden, but it brought her own jape no further forward!

Lilith hastened back to the library for the serious work of making mischief.

oOoOo

Madam Spikenard was ruthlessly hugged by Lilith and thanked for her timely warning about reading other people's margin notes; and Lilith, being Lilith, told her exactly what the margin notes were.

Madam Spikenard was breathless in horror. She had foreseen danger to the little girl to do with notes in a book; but the nature of it had been hidden from her. Madam Spikenard did not consider herself a seer since her sudden insights of knowledge about people were not, to her own mind, definite enough to be considered true prophecy; but Albus Dumbledore always encouraged her to tell anything she thought a child could handle to any that she experienced such a feeling about. She was not to know that Albus Dumbledore considered her partial visions more reliable than many true visions; the more because Rosemary Spikenard had her visions without losing her normal faculties, and was able to add her visions to her very excellent instinctive psychological reading of the subject. It also meant that she spoke in plain terms without getting bogged down in a morass of symbolism that seemed to be the way in which full blown visions were passed. Madam Spikenard's comments on Jade had been that so level headed a girl was in no wise likely to be flattered by a wily old spy, and would therefore bring down Odessa the moment that Prince Gerhardt went out of his way to irritate her more than usual. She had further murmured that transfiguration really WAS Jade's action of first resort; and as it subsequently transpired that Jade, revolted by the Prince's advances, had turned him into a pig, one might assume Madam Spikenard had seen this some time before it happened. It was a little more straightforward than statements that the jade wolf would overcome the golden son providing she was not in the toils of the ferret.

Madam Spikenard hugged Lilith back.

"I'm glad I was able to warn you – and that you remembered it" she said.

"Oh daddy said I was always to take anything YOU said seriously" said Lilith blithely "Because you're a diviner worth your oats and not an inutile incompetent scaremongering imbecile of a washed up old besom like someone called Trelawney."

"Severus is a little picturesque when he gets irritated" said Madam Spikenard dryly "Oh dear, Lilith, I'm afraid you are going to be making some of my grandchildren look foolish; and I am going to have to wonder whether to warn them to be careful what they believe in, or let them make fools of themselves for a greater ultimate lesson."

"Gosh, Madam Spikenard, you ARE the tops!" said Lilith, much impressed "I do want to study divination at some point; I don't suppose I'll be any good at it because none of my family ever have been; but I think it's important to learn the background of everything and you get a pass whether you write earnestly or whether you write something funny that you hope will at least amuse the examiner, so I shall probably not go on to NEWT unless I discover a talent for something obscure." She came up for air. "I say, why don't you tell them to be sure and check if they should trust their eyes and tell them to trust their feelings? If they go by gut instinct there are lots of reasons why it should feel wrong; and if they go by logic there are as many reasons why they should see that it is wrong. We left in get out of jail free clues for the truly clever, it's designed to catch the terminally vain."

"Well, that is really very clever – and thoughtful – of you my dear" said Madam Spikenard. "I fear you will have a number of takers; the ensuing squabbles should be quite enter – er, distressing. I will warn as you suggest; thank you. One does not LIKE having relatives who are too impressed by themselves; a sharp lesson is often remedial."

Madam Spikenard reflected that if her daughters in law were not quite so impressed by having talented children her grandchildren might not have been made to be so impressed by themselves.

Lilith gave her another hug.

"At least it's not quite as embarrassing as having a grandfather as unsatisfactory as mine" she said.

The child did have a point; on a scale of one to ten of unsatisfactory relatives, Voldemort scored somewhere in the high eighties.

oOoOo

Lilith assembled all three of the younger groups of marauders.

"Japes aside, I've been doing a little work over Buckley Cooper" she said "On account of how I thought it was worth while running his name arithmantically in case he might use that for picking an auspicious date to attack anyone. Now his first name reduces to twenty-five; or seven, so the twenty fifth or seventh of the month would seem reasonable; and Cooper reduces to nine, or September. So if he's into arithmantic feasibility we're hunkey dorey until next school year, when Naomi starts – and she's the only one of you who also reduces to seven, and in fact to twenty-five first. Which I thought might be significant."

"He's not that patient" said Isambard "And I don't think he's actually done much Arithmancy. And besides you COULD always argue that the ninth of July would be all right too. If he could even manage to reduce his name in numerology."

"Am I thinking too much like a cunning marauder?" said Lilith "As the aurors haven't found him yet that kinda suggests he's as clever as Sec suggested, using a fidelius charm. So I figured maybe he was cunning enough to improve his chances with Arithmancy; and as Naomi comes out the same as Buckley… well it was a thought."

"You're way too clever for most wizards but I don't necessarily disagree with the use of numerology" said Nathan "Any idiot can get hold of the basic Pythagorean conversion; it's printed in a load of almanacs and that sort of crap in things like 'Divination – Tomorrow!'. And remember too, a lot of idiots look for ways they can twist stuff to bring supposed luck on the day they want it; so he might equally add first AND second names to get a month – which would be sixteen reducing to seven, so July again; at which point, because we don't know quite how he thinks he could be planning on the seventh, the ninth or the twenty fifth and there not being thirty six days in any month that one at least is ruled out."

"He doesn't look much like Seven of Nine" giggled Charis "Even if arithmantically he is; resistance is irrelevant, prepare to be assimilated."

"What drivel are you talking now?" demanded Isambard.

"Muggle wireless vision" said Lilith succinctly. "I do take your point, Nathan; people manage to be awfully clever about being dead stupid at times. I think the surname is significant; doing something to or about his nieces and nephews. So I'd guess his whole name gives month and maybe the ninth day for Cooper is what counts? Unless he's run the day for each of you Coopers."

"I think it would make his brain cell hurt from what I've heard of him from dad" said Isambard, frankly. "And though it might be reasonable to assume any sensible dark wizard might use Arithmancy I don't think he will. What do each of us reduce to?"

"Lazy baboon, can't you do it yourself?" said Lilith.

"Why should I? You're daft enough to have done it already" said Isambard.

Lilith absently gave him green tentacles instead of eyebrows.

"Ashleigh and Rowland are both six, you're four, Niobe is nine, Naomi is seven and Virgil is five, and incidentally is also five if you take out the 'r' so he's watchful for a vigil" she added. "Which might, or might not, be important one day."

"She's nothing if not thorough" said Sextus. "I say, does he predate the Geomancy classes? Didn't they start with Harry Potter?"

"They did" said Lilith "when Remus came back to teach and Padfoot took up Geomancy full time. But lots of people do pick up basic ley line use. You're thinking about him travelling without making a noise in the Department of Magical Transport, aren't you?"

"Yes" said Sextus "He apparated away and where he went got missed but he has to be careful now."

"Ah, the joys of elf-style apportation" murmured Nathan.

"I think" said Sextus "If he left Hogwarts before Geomancy, and without the benefit of those who showed us how jolly important Arithmancy is, he's almost GOT to get lost in a crowd. He has a funk hole with a fidelius charm; and if I was doing it, frankly in his shoes I'd have nipped off a bit of a muggle food shop so I had less chance of being caught when I snuck out for food; and he's wanting revenge. He isn't going to wait around for some auspicious date. I think Lilith was right first guess when she wondered if he'd use the cover of all the people who are going to converge on us. That was a gut feeling; and gut feeling is so often close to being prophetic I'd hesitate to discard it."

"Madam Spikenard" said Lilith.

"Say what?" said Wanda.

"There, how do you like mental gymnastics when they're played on you?" said Lilith. "I meant, we ought to cart Niobe and Isambard up to Madam Spikenard and see if she says anything like 'beware the Ides of March' or even 'beware the nuts in May."

"In this organisation there's nuts in every ruddy month" grinned Jingjie.

oOoOo

Madam Spikenard looked at the group, who had pushed Isambard and Niobe to the front.

"Ah, I see" she said "You want confirmation of the danger to the Coopers that you perspicacious children have already deduced. I have very little that is clear, save that you are hated, my dears, with a passion; and that hatred is a little uncertain in its focus right now."

"You mean the egregious little tick hasn't even managed a basic plan yet?" said Lilith.

"I should not have put it quite so picturesquely" said Madam Spikenard calmly "But I would rather say that his plans are probably fluid. My own best guess for a time of trouble would be at the time of the greatest number of people here; I have a nebulous impression of crowds. But I may be wrong."

"Draco" said Gennar "He was wondering about opting out, but I think it's his bounden duty to do Convolvumort. Harry gets dragged in whatever and Ron and Hermione."

"And Daddy WAS planning on staying well out of it" said Lilith "As was mummy. Ron and Hermie are only going to back up Harry because he'll be miserable. I say, there's nothing to stop us sorting out a necklace each for your folks with shield and anti-jinx charms on them and stuff like that to protect the little ones and your parents; and I should think the rest of us can look after your big brother and sister, they being more harmless than you two."

"I find the idea of such charmed items relieving to the unease in my mind" said Madam Spikenard. "And I SHALL be working with Albert and with Lavender and Rosemary, as my most reliable grandchildren, to keep an eye out for Buckley Cooper. I have a little idea of my own using divining rods set up in a perimeter to set off a warning. Though I shall have to be careful that they do not send a warning at a period before he crosses the perimeter" she added thoughtfully.

"Crumbs I've got an even better idea!" said Lilith "The big ones know how to chant up an engulfing spell – well I think I know how, but I think it'd take more welly than we've got – so if he crosses a line he gets engulfed and dropped into a dungeon."

"And because we know the specifics of the genetics of his nieces and nephews we only catch him – or hang about, what about their parents and the kids? Can we extrapolate so twenty-three factorial doesn't do them over too?" said Sextus.

"We could ask them to come up and exclude them when we do it, couldn't we?" said Jayashree.

"Good thinking, Batman!" said Lilith. "WHO'S the daddy!"

"Lucius and your dad" giggled Kazrael "well of most people!"

"Literal baboon" said Lilith.

The Coopers were asked to come to the school and all the marauders from Albus Dumbledore in age down to Lilith Snape and sundry other blood group supporters made a circle around the castle and walked around it solemnly until they were back to their original point. Lydia asked all the Coopers to stand together and drew out their Malfoy lines in a bright network, and firmly excluded all those that had come from their mother. She had managed to obtain some of the blood that had come from Buckley Cooper's gunshot wound; not a large enough sample of itself but enough to see what she might use to prevent his brother being engulfed in a most tricky use of twenty-three factorial in an equation.

Most of the other Marauders, with the possible exceptions of Albus, Lilith, Ming, Gorbrin, Jingjie, Mimi and Sextus, watched in wise looking incomprehension as Lydia made calculations.

"Yer only supposed ter blow the ruddy doors off!" she muttered to herself.

Only Mimi picked up the reference to the minis used in 'The Italian Job' being Mini Coopers. Sometimes a warped imagination was as powerful as Arithmancy with a chant. And the chant was designed to protect the mini Coopers.

Lydia designed a chant broken into sections each of as many lines as each number in the twenty-three number long integer that was twenty-three factorial; it would be a longish chant to be so precise. And each section had to target a part of Buckley Cooper; and that had to be set up before the line could be made to engulf him. Lydia passed out each section to her best poets to define Buckley within it, asking for any nicknames he had ever had from his brother, and any foibles they might use.

"I want to add Finnish naming magic to this to be sure we get him" she said "And any name by which he has ever been known adds to the power."

Mr Cooper had never heard of Finnish naming magic; but then, he had never heard of many of the new concepts now to be found in his children's homework so he did not argue.

"He was Buck at school, and Bucktooth to some of the bullies" he said "And Bickersome Buckley to our parents before they realised he was more than bickersome. I've called him some pretty hard names that I'm loath to say in front of the children…"

"Write them down and we'll send the two smaller ones in with your wife before we chant" said Lydia "I doubt that Niobe and Isambard will find them shocking; schoolchildren rarely do."

When it was completed, Lydia duplicated all the parts with a tap of her wand and distributed the sheets of chanting to all those who were taking part, which was most of the blood group.

And then they began.

It lasted about an hour; and then the oldest ones added the refinement of the engulfing charm to the line, so that those defined by it should be engulfed and apparated directly to the oubliette they had set up for the purposes. It had not been an oubliette until the Belle Marauders had got at it, but as fans of 'Labyrinth' the girls felt that an oubliette was necessary.

"Thank you for your co-operation, Mr Cooper, Madam Cooper" said Lydia "I don't often get the opportunity to order the head about; only I know more about chanting than he does. And Ashleigh IS a friend of mine" she added.

"Thank YOU for your time and effort" said Mr Cooper "We sincerely hope that it catches my brother; I really think he is unhinged!"

"A lot of dark wizards are" said Lydia, dryly. "What normal person wants to do dark magic after all? And now I think cocoa is called for!"

They would not, of course, know how well it had worked until – indeed, unless – Buckley Cooper tried to cross the line of Buckley Cooper engulfing; but Lydia used Scarpin's Revelaspell on the line and pronounced it satisfactory.

"And all we need now is for Uncle Buckley to go for the train, not come to the school" said Leo.

"I'm inclined to trust Lilith's feelings" said Lydia, calmly "She's not a seer but she has hunches; and her little grandmother wrote a letter to her unborn child – mum – because she knew she was going to die. Some Malfoys have flashes of insight. We'll be on double alert on the train, taking the three younger ones home for the Easter hols and bringing them back; Gorbrin and co are equal to that, and us in school with the Belle Marauders to watch out for Ashleigh who's the only one he OUGHT to be able to target as she's over seventeen. But any idiot can overcome ministry strictures so I'm not counting out the younger ones being at risk. Especially out of the exclusion line of their own home. If he goes early we'll just have to make it up as we go along."

"Like we don't usually" grinned Leo.

oOoOo

The victims of the Stripy Marauders were, meanwhile, being lured softly into the trap. It was four years since the jape of the diadem; long enough that most of the middle school were unaware of its occurrence, since it was NOT spoken about – at least, not by Ravenclaws – for having brought no lustre at all on those who had succumbed to its wiles.

A letter had been found in the library, in a book that 'accidentally' fell out of a shelf of books on dark magic as Sampta Patil walked nearby; and the letter had been to one Bartemius Crouch from 'your Master'.

Sampta was agog; and inclined to keep it to herself, save that her knowledge of Runes was sketchy to say the least, and the Parseltongue passage had her beat.

She had no intention of showing it to Xanthia Fawcett in her own year; Xanthia was altogether too likely to usurp it to her own glory. Sampta, after a long pause, showed it to her twin Sita; who told her to take it to the Head, or at least to her Head of House.

Sampta had no intention of involving any teacher, whether the Head or Professor Flitwick – of whom she was wary after her bad behaviour of the previous year in any case – and also did not intend to involve any marauder, which her house head boy was, in the person of Mad Lockhart. She DID show Daphne Spikenard who shrugged and said it looked a bit suspect and if she was Sampta she'd show a teacher but her brother Robert might be able to divine something from it.

Robert, in Gryffindor House, was sufficiently academically sure of himself to not want to show a teacher, but was NOT skilled with Runes and advised the Corbin twins or Gorbrin Malfoy.

As Gorbrin worked alongside marauders he was NOT to be considered; and Sampta and Robert showed the work of art to the Corbin twins.

"Twenty Galleons says it's a hoax" said Hugin "Really do you actually believe that something written by Voldemort is likely to turn up in the library after all this time?"

"I don't see why not" said Robert, stubbornly "I heard my grandmother telling Professor Hardbroom that she was glad she'd warned Lilith Snape not to read other people's notes in the margins of books because the poor kid unearthed some spell that Riddle had written that was set off by reading it."

"Is that possible?" gasped Sampta.

"Yes, though I don't know how to do it" said Hugin. "Kudos to Madam Spikenard! But I still don't believe in it. I bet finding that made Lilith set up this as a joke to see if she could play a 'gotcha' on people."

"But not necessarily" said his brother Munin "It is our duty to investigate it – cautiously. And that IS the notation of Parseltongue; and Voldemort was a Parselmouth."

"So's Lilith Snape" said Hugin "And she's better at ancient runes than most people; remember her going on about the Gematria after taking Arithmancy OWL?"

Munin looked uncomfortable.

"Well, even so, she's still only a little girl" he said "If it's a jape of hers and her friends, we should be able to catch them out. And I don't think it is; look how adult this writing is!"

Lilith would have been delighted at the compliment to her highly dedicated wand work.

Hugin would have nothing to do with it; and the other three set to work, with Sampta inviting Emerald Cherrytree in to help out too.

It kept them occupied for quite some while; further proof, Munin said, that it was no childish trick, being far too sophisticated even for a child the age of the rest of Lilith's class, let alone for someone of only ten!

oOoOo

Hugin went to find Lilith.

"If you manage to stitch up my brother it's his own fault for not listening to reason; but I ask you nicely not to make too much mileage out of it" he said bluntly. Lilith regarded him snakily.

"If I was you I'd be around to stroke his ego on the first day of April" she said. "I say, Hugin, you are QUICK to pick up the clues that it's all wrong; but please don't tell him, will you? Or if you must tell him because it's a twin thing, can you not tell anyone else who's got involved?"

"Oh we were just asked for advice over ancient runes" said Hugin. "It looks like a clever piece of work. I guess I do have to tell Munin you know that you confessed it to me; but I don't think he'll be averse to letting Sampta Patil and cronies crash; they can be pretty insufferable."

Lilith grinned.

"Have we got Xanthia Fawcett?" she asked.

"Not yet" said Hugin. "Patil thinks she's likely to steal her thunder I imagine; still, it's a matter of time before the whole fifth of Ravenclaw hear about it, and half of Gryffindor House too."

"Doxy droppings! The Gryffs are likely to do something violent to my efforts or report it to Minerva!" said Lilith.

"Oh, I'll head Robert Spikenard off at the pass if you like, kid" said Hugin "It's such a nice piece of work one can't help admiring it; especially from the point of view of the pride in NOT being caught. He wouldn't write in Parseltongue to his minions, would he? HE would never teach it to underlings."

"Bravo" said Lilith "You have got his snaky little number! He WOULD use Parseltongue to hide something though; and THAT's where the jape is dodgy; I didn't dare because nobody would ever be likely to find it if I did. I say! I wonder if it's worth while wandering through the library muttering such words as 'open' in Parseltongue?"

Hugin laughed.

"If I was you. I'd do that with a bigger marauder along with you" he advised.

"Good advice at that; ta!" said Lilith "I say, Hugin, you're not nearly as stuffy as I thought you were! You're a brick and I hope you extract your brother from the loops of my constriction gently!"

"Do my best" said Hugin.

oOoOo

Munin was NOT best pleased to be told by his brother that Lilith, taxed with the hoax, had freely admitted it; but Hugin talked very fast and Munin agreed to see if the whole of the more bumptious members of the fifth might be involved, and indeed some of the more obnoxious of the fourth.

"I bet Fawcett would jump at it" he said "And Damon Ogren, Argus Clearwater and Tobias Pollock; and in the fourth, Ingram Scrimgeour, Ferdinand Belby and Randall Corner."

It might fetch some becoming humility to the group of what most Ravenclaws considered the troublesome group that brought a bad name to the rest of them; who had mostly recovered their aplomb and bumptiousness a year round from Mei Chang's punishment to them for their behaviour to Darryl Zabini on the word of one silly little girl!

And at least Lilith Snape had a direct honesty that owned up when asked; and Munin was grateful that he was to have the chance to dissociate himself from the whole business, pleading pressure of work and suggesting that as it was too complex for three kids on their own that they should perhaps tell the faculty.

They would branch out to others of their ilk rather than do THAT!


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Y'know what?" said Mimi.

"Probably not" said Drusillina "You have the most 'scrutiatingly tortuous thought processes."

"Well this one's about how to get that Buckley Cooper character if he doesn't come to be engulfed" said Mimi "because I and others of my kind are joined to Niobe and Isambard by blood."

"We all are. What's your point, Mimiwobbles?" said Maud.

Mimi sighed.

"WHAT am I?" she asked.

"A Snape, too academic and intelligent for your own good and singularly tortuous and convoluted in your thinking like 'Lina said" giggled Isabel.

Mimi sighed.

"Whilst I appreciate that you lot have no side or racism I want to remind you that I AM an elf; like Kreacher, Dobby and Polly."

"And a Snape too and given to sarcastic periods" said Bella "So you're an elf; so what – OH!" as she caught on.

"ZIGACKLY!" said Mimi "Come to my arms!"

"Leave Asterix out of this" said Bella. "O my best beloveds, who are looking confused, an elf with a blood bond can apparate to ANY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY THEY ARE BONDED TO – and that means WHEREVER they are, even under fidelius charm. That was what you meant wasn't it?"

"At least one of you oiks takes out your brain cell to dust it from time to time" said Mimi.

There was a brief altercation over this calumny and Mimi extracted herself, giggling, from a variety of spell effects and re-attached her long delicate ears that were attached to a vase that they were flying about their box room haven like a pair of pink bat wings.

"It IS rather brilliant" said Drusillina.

"It's a side effect of plans by anyone called Snape" said Maud. "Don't tell any of them."

"I'm afraid, Maudie, they already know" said Bella. "It is rather lush; I like immensely. But let's not waste the engulfing spell if he does turn up; we went to a lot of trouble making that oubliette and decorating it with chains and bones and things and Ed hung from the ceiling was a tricky piece of transfiguration to get all the bones right."

Ed was a skeleton transfigured from paper; and named for the mascot of the muggle group 'Iron Maiden'.

"Oh I agree" said Mimi "It's just something worth holding in reserve."

"Great!" said Isabel "Now can you hold it in reserve quietly while I wrestle with this pig of an Arithmancy homework?"

oOoOo

Gorbrin's class were due to learn apparating – though of course those of them who were blood-joined could apparate perfectly well already – and they assembled duly in the Great Hall to do so.

The man from the Ministry of Transport was a thin, harassed looking wizard who gave the impression of being grey, although his hair was only just starting to grey at the temples and he did not seem particularly old. It was perhaps just his manner.

The exercises were tedious but the motions had to be gone through; and if the seven blood-kin in the class found it boring, they performed scrupulously.

The ministry man was very pleased. Hogwarts school threw up a lot students who seemed to get the idea straight away; obviously they listened to him carefully!

Porphyria Martin started screaming however when her friend Deborah Summerby disappeared entirely.

Robert Spikenard paled.

"She has gone to the time of the Dark Lord" he intoned, then shook his head "I say did I just say what I thought I said?"

Gorbrin strode over, and legilimensed Robert without a by-your-leave to see what he had seen; and then he and Meliandra were apparating smoothly to the library of the nineteen fifties, where Deborah stood, plainly as fascinated as she was terrified in front of handsome Tom Riddle, grabbed her on each side and dragged her back to her own time and the horrified class.

"Dammit, Deborah, what a fool way to let your mind wander!" cried Gorbrin "You could have changed history and made us all vanish!"

"I didn't tell him anything he didn't already know!" squeaked Deborah "Only that Harry Potter was his enemy!"

Meliandra gasped.

"It's always been wondered why he chose to 'mark as his equal' Harry rather than Neville Longbottom" she said "And now we know; he received a visitation in the library, that he recalled when the prophesy came to his ears".

"Causality is not affected; but DO try to concentrate on the here and now Deborah, not let your dafter mind-wanderings intrude!" said Gorbrin, in his best Draco drawl.

"I don't understand; what happened?" said the Ministry Man.

"It's quite simple" said Gorbrin "Deborah accidentally undertook the time-turning equation instead of normal apparation by introducing an extra term of i and its integral. Fortunately Robert is a seer and got a vision of when she went. Mel and I went to retrieve her from the pictures Robert gave. I think that covers it sir."

"But – but you should have called a more experienced apparator to rescue her!" cried the Ministry man.

"No time; she was talking to VOLDEMORT" said Gorbrin grimly "Did you really think the lives of three schoolkids was worth having him know in detail how he was killed so he could circumvent it so all history changed? 'cos both Mel and I were ready to die, and be lost in apportation with Deborah to prevent that."

"Damn right sir" said Meliandra "There was too much at stake; and Gorbrin knows me well enough to know I could work that out quickly."

"And if they had not returned, Erica and I would have followed to check" said Ming "Sometimes you have to be prepared to put your life on the line for all you believe in; safety first for normal apportation is a rule we believe in but this was out of the ordinary sir. And Professor Dumbledore would agree."

"I say, isn't it supposed to be us Gryffindors who do stupidly noble self sacrificing, not you Slythers and Ravers?" laughed Hadrian "Let's get on with the lesson, if we may, sir; if Deborah is up to it."

"I think Porphyria should take her to have a dose of something calming" said Erica. She mouthed at Gorbrin "DID Voldemort get anything useful from her?"

Gorbrin shook his head.

"I legilimensed HIM" he said "And managed to blur his thoughts about a goblin in uniform; he was ready to attack someone apporting in an non apparating zone, had she not looked so disconcerted; he asked who she was and what she was up to; and she told him her name and that she was from his future after Harry had killed him. And THAT was when we arrived. Harry was the only name she gave; he had no surname to work with until the prophecy gave him the choice of two babies. Naturally he assumed at that point that Harry came after him as an adult and he could change history by killing him as a baby. He wasn't that hard actually; not then" he added thoughtfully "He was our age; I could have taken him blindfold with one hand tied behind my back. Part of me wanted to, to prevent all the later misery; and the sensible bit of me knew it could destroy the universe if I even tried."

"Boy am I glad you're sensible, brother mine" said Erica.

oOoOo

"I say, Gorbrin, Deborah's really worried you're going to split on her to the marauders that she was silly and that they'll rag her" said Porphyria "I know we've ragged you and Mel in the past but PLEASE will you keep it quiet?"

"I HAVE to report to the older ones you know" said Gorbrin "Because of the explanation about Harry being picked by Voldemort; it's sort of important to history. But I shan't tell any of the younger ones. Is that all right? Upper sixth aren't about to be childish!"

"Thanks!" said Porphyria, relieved.

Gorbrin had no intention of telling the younger ones anyway. Lilith had her father's over developed sensitivity and was likely to blame herself and her jape; though frankly, it was no-one's fault but Deborah's. And for a sixth form girl to be caught by the shenanigans of second year warts was disgraceful! Gorbrin had no doubt that such was the reason that Deborah had been thinking about Voldemort in the library; though equally, he reflected, it could just be because of it being the tenth anniversary of the end of the wizarding war and she had been reading too much of the wrong sort of pap.

"I say, Malfoy" said Hugin Corbin, catching up with Gorbrin "I didn't realise that those Huffers had been involved by Patil and her precious idiots in young Snape's little prank. Do you know about it?"

"Approximately and in broad only because some of us wanted to hunt out and destroy any book Voldemort might have left, when the first rumours started" said Gorbrin "I'd like to think we should have realised it was a hoax from the clues she swears she dropped in the jape, but she told us not to bother. Actually, old boy, I'm inclined to think it was just those two reading too many tales of Tom Riddle in 'Witch Weekly'; it's been looking into his life and running the daft sort of articles along the lines of 'what drove sensitive, handsome, intelligent Tom Riddle to become Lord Voldemort' which anyone who knows anything knows is a stupid question."

"Not for those of us who DON'T know anything" said Hugin "I wish you'd enlighten me; with a dad who was so closely involved I guess you forget that you're rather better informed than most of us."

Gorbrin shrugged.

"I suppose so" he said; and gave Hugin a potted history of the Gaunt family, Merope's infatuation for the handsome muggle and how her death led to her son being reared in a muggle orphanage.

"Which, as I understand it, was no better and no worse than any such institution; struggling to do the best for the kids with an insufficient budget" said Gorbrin "He seems to have inherited something of the insanity of the Gaunts; that was exacerbated by KNOWING he was different and by his inferiority complex that meant he had to force his will on others like the other children he tortured to prove to himself that he was some kind of big man. He was born to be a loser; unfortunately he was a loser with a lot of raw power and – at first – a lot of personal charm that he learned how to use. And my dad was one of those charmed. It took the realisation that a compulsion was planted in him to make my dad go back on a loyalty once given – even though some things about his master disturbed him – because of that charm. And my dad is NOT weak minded or foolish; which does prove rather how good, in his insane way, Riddle really was. He forgot to try to charm Albus Dumbledore that first day in the orphanage; and alerted him. But Dumbledore was not the headmaster then. Armando Dippet was. We can be glad that Riddle was so obsessed by being Slytherin's heir that he only hit on Slytherin House to recruit from as a general thing; I think he had one Gryff and a couple of Ravers as almost incidental followers. It's scary to reflect how much more harm he might have done if he'd been sane enough to be efficient. And it's also scary to reflect that Lilith Snape is actually way harder now that he ever was" he added thoughtfully. "Only she, fortunately, is as sane as they make them and her greatest ambition is to have a laugh at the expense of anyone pompously fatuous enough to fall for her japes in between getting an 'O' grade in every OWL and every NEWT there is just because she can."

"She is rather exceptional" admitted Hugin "I was NOT one who fell for it; and my brother pretty soon realised it was a trick. We decided to let the others sink under their own idiocy; I warned them at first that I thought it was a hoax. If they didn't like to take that, it's none of my responsibility. Thanks for filling me in on that; is your dad going to take 'Witch Weekly' apart?"

"No, he's just going to publish the facts in an unvarnished and prosaic way in the 'Times'" said Gorbrin. "Including something of Riddle's methods; enough, one hopes, to warn any who see such a thing, without being enough to give others ideas. It's a tricky balancing act. He's been going over it with Professor Dumbledore to get the balance just right."

"I look forward to reading it" said Hugin. "I say, Amos Leroy had a similar mind set then?"

"Yes, in some respects; and almost enough charm – when he cared to exert it" said Gorbrin "Only his problem, poor bastard, was being spoilt; and he didn't so much have a chip on his shoulder and an inbuilt resentment against the world, but an acquired chip on his shoulder that we did not recognise his greatness. His ego was as large but backed by false belief that he HAD proved himself instead of, as in Riddle's case the need to continue to prove himself. But his was from background; not innate mental instability. At least, one hopes so. And he MAY be brought to realise his own deficiencies. I hope so" he sighed.

"Yes; and when he's released from being in the care of a quaestor we shall have to be prepared for it NOT to have worked; as well as trying to help him integrate into society in the hopes it has" said Hugin "And watch for any traps HE might be setting to gain followers."

"That's awfully profound" said Gorbrin "Reckon you ought to talk to the Mad Marauders about that."

Hugin nodded.

"All right; reckon I may" he said.

Gorbrin thought about Amos Leroy. Was he likely to try to be a second Voldemort? He answered his own question in the negative. Amos Leroy was too obsessed with his own voice and his art to even trouble to learn a skill related to it – chanting. He was uninterested in lessons – at least from what Venilia and Avice, formerly in the boy's class, had said – and he would scarcely be likely to manage to be a dark wizard of any serious note if he had no dark skills. And apart from singing like a banshee, Leroy had no skills, dark or otherwise. Of course, if his voice did not settle to be any good after it had finished breaking, he might just apply himself to learning other skills to avenge himself on circumstances; but frankly, Gorbrin considered it highly unlikely. Not being able to sing at all could break the boy but Leroy did not have the personal strength to totally reinvent himself. And that would be pretty awful for him; to lose the only thing that mattered.

Gorbrin determined to write to Amos Leroy, expressing a hope that his voice had stabilised and suggesting that if it was no longer fine enough for opera suggesting that he might instead consider either taking up chanting where the quality of the voice was less important than that it was trained, or to take to teaching music. He would also add that he hoped that without being pushed for the ambitions of a nasty-minded aunt that the boy felt happier now; and make it clear that the boy's erstwhile school mates knew that he had been made to act as he had by an unfortunate upbringing. Gorbrin was not sure which had been worst; the blinkered and uncritical spoiling from the lad's adoring and silly mother, or the grasping ambition of his aunt. As Harry had prophesied, using knowledge of human nature as a more reliable tool than divination, the boy's aunt had sold her story to 'Witch Weekly' telling of the strain of living with a self-willed little monster, whose golden voice was the only compensation for the awful truth about him. It was said to be an extract from a book the woman was writing; and Lucius, at Gorbrin's request, had written in his editorial that in his experience, nine out of ten badly behaved children were caused by their parents, and between spoiling and exploiting, Mr Leroy was no different to any other unfortunate abused child who had been pushed into unacceptable behaviour with no understanding of WHY it was unacceptable. Pearl Brocklehurst had written to the 'Times' agreeing with Mr Malfoy's editorial, making it clear that she was the student whose work Leroy had destroyed.

oOoOo

Amos Leroy, as it happened, had received a severe shock; and when he learned that, far from victimising him, the pleas of his schoolfellows had saved him from a term of imprisonment in Azkaban he had been pulled up short to think hard. The quaestor who was his effective gaoler had spoken long with the boy; and had explained to him why his behaviour had got him into trouble. For a youth as self centred as Leroy, that others would go out of their way to actually try to help seemed unbelievable, when they did not like him; but he was gradually coming to realise that his upbringing had been unnatural and very wrong. Amos Leroy was never going to be a kind, compassionate or caring person; but he was at least learning to think a little about others when Quaestor Ernest Munch took him to a back alley to hear a child singing in an untrained but beautiful voice for thrown knuts. Leroy got very upset that so pure a voice should be strained for being untrained; and Munch explained gently that the truly poor had not a hope of affording training and the child would doubtless end up singing in bars and selling her body for want of some other means of support.

Declaring this a crime, Amos Leroy insisted that HE would train the little girl; which was what Munch had hoped. If the boy could think about another apart from himself – even if it was only a case of putting music first – there was some hope for him.

Leroy consequently wrote back to Gorbrin that it was still a little early to tell how his own voice was progressing but the prognosis seemed good; and that he was already teaching those who had no other means of gaining a teacher. Gorbrin wrote again, congratulating him on taking on a hard but rewarding job, and suggesting that if he, Amos, did not feel able to sponsor his more talented pupils beyond their basic training, he, Gorbrin, would be willing to do so, or at least to help out, so they might go to Prince Peak which took all unusual talents very seriously and where music was now a speciality subject. Whereat, Amos Leroy might, he suggested, oversee continued singing training in the holidays of his discoveries but give them the option of learning other subjects in a quiet atmosphere without being so damaged by having to sing in public as he, Amos, had to.

He reflected that it was a shame that Severus had not been training music specifically before Leroy went so far off the rails; Severus would have tamed him from being a brat, of that Gorbrin was certain. In a smaller school it was easier to pick out those who needed more attention; and Severus was, besides, quite capable of being more of a disciplinarian than little Flitwick in Ravenclaw House. Though one had to admit Flitters had been tough enough over the poisoning of Lilith.

Gorbrin did not think that Amos Leroy was ever likely to be likeable; but at least he seemed to be a lot less poisonous!

And Amos Leroy was glad enough to have some contact with someone like Gorbrin, who was likely to be a power one day in the wizarding world; and whose stepfather had been the only one not to castigate him out of hand but to write that there were mitigating circumstances.

Amos would never know that Lucius actually had a lot of sympathy for an adolescent whose vanities and weaknesses were played upon, spoiled and abused in equal measure. Lucius could see parallels with the way he had been played by Tom Riddle.

Lucius was actually in school fairly regularly, though he did not disturb his assorted offspring. Not only was he finalising what was to be written about Riddle, he was also working with Albus to make sure that all the school wards were hardened and that there would be not chance for the Fey to take advantage of visiting younger siblings at the time of the celebration. As Lucius brought along a contingent of those fey who were personally loyal to him to help out, there was very little chance the unseelie court would have any chance to make trouble; and Severus Snape's adopted son Seaghsrón had also been to tell his fey biological father that any trouble from him and his minions would be well and truly punished, for after seven years bound to Severus by the agreement that had been made, Seagh might choose whether he would cleave to his human blood or his fey; and chose the former. Which did not in any way diminish the powers his fey blood gave him; as he reminded the chieftain of the rath.

As Seagh was tall, well dressed in real finery that was in no wise dependant on glamour, and had cycled his birth father's bodyguards through a bizarre selection of transfigurations before turning them into stone for the duration of his visit, the fey were unlikely to tangle with him if he

"Got muckle crabbit wi' ye and became serious forbye" as he put it.

oOoOo

The hunters after Voldemort memorabilia had, meanwhile, managed to work out the clues in the letter to find where in the library a portion of concealed wizarding space might lie. Even if they had not yet penetrated it.

"And I DO hope they're paranoid enough to wear dragonskin gardening gloves to reach into the space for the book but I'm afraid they're too stupid" sighed Lilith to her cronies.

"Did you leave a mousetrap in there to catch their little fingers if they don't?" asked Sextus hopefully.

"No; I thought about having some needle to prick them looking like it was dripping with venom, but you see if it isn't, they'll find out, and that's a dead give away; and it if is, they might dally long enough to actually KILL one of the idiots and that's kind of taking a joke way too far" said Lilith. "I don't poison people even on purpose, even if dippy Ravers can poison people by accident."

"Some of us Ravers aren't dippy" said Sextus snippily.

"Never said you were" said Lilith "Not all Slythers are slimy bullies. But enough are that it's the rep of our house; like enough Ravers are dippy to give the rest of you a bad name. Like beef-witted Gryffs and terminally silly Huffers. People get defined by their worst people, not their best you know; it's human nature. I hope they find it soon; I'd hate to have to manufacture any more clues."

"Oh they'll find it soon enough" said Gennar "They aren't stupid, just dippy."

oOoOo

The Weird Marauders were waiting eagerly for the Honking Daffodils in the greenhouses to open.

They had an idea for a jape, based on an old gardening book that Chrys had unearthed when looking for jinxes in his father's library that emphasised that Honking daffodils needed good pure air to make their clear honk.

Chrys had promptly bought some snuff.

The flowers had to be fully open to honk satisfactorily; and the Weird Marauders went eagerly and assiduously to herbology to check out the swelling buds, surreptitiously casting warming charms on the pots of daffodils to bring them along quicker.

It was a piece of mischief to be accomplished early in the morning, between Madam Sprout leaving the greenhouses to wash before heading to breakfast and getting to their own House tables looking innocent and innocuous.

It would be the second years who would benefit from the prank; but the Weird Marauders had every expectation of hearing all about it from their stripy counterparts.

The second entered the greenhouses to the sounds of hooting, sneezing and parping noises reminiscent of a man-sized cold in a troll-sized nose.

The noise was incredible.

Madam Sprout tried to teach above the row, then designated two of her own house, her great niece Phylloxera who could be trusted not to kill things just by carrying them and Mohini Malik.

When she returned she fixed Lilith with a steely gaze.

"Miss Snape, what can you tell me about the unfortunate disposition of my daffodils?" she demanded.

Lilith looked bewildered.

"Nothing, I'm afraid, Madam Sprout; I've never heard of honking daffodils having colds. I never came across it before."

"Are you telling me that this is nothing to do with you and your friends?" asked Madam Sprout.

"It is not" said Lilith "Is it then an induced condition? I say, what an excellent disruption, 'cos they're not sentient to notice it, are they?"

"Personally" said Madam Sprout "I do NOT enjoy such a er, disruption. But I have never found you untruthful, Miss Snape; and you and your friends do appear surprised. Is there anyone else in the class who would care to enlighten me on how this effect was achieved?"

The rest of the class were as bewildered as Lilith and friends.

"I can assure you Madam Sprout, Snape IS lying!" said Hubert McLaggan "She and her cronies were late to breakfast!"

"And THAT was for an entirely different reason you poor prune" said Lilith "Because we had certain business to attend to that I do NOT intend to air in public."

"That's because you haven't had a chance to make up what it is; and you're trying to think of a lie in a hurry" said McLaggan "MAKE her tell, Madam Sprout!"

"I do NOT perform discipline to the urgings of little boys" said Madam Sprout icily "Lilith my dear, perhaps you might, however consider telling me?"

"Only if I can whisper so there aren't a load of horrid boys making fun of anyone" said Lilith.

"Come into the next greenhouse my dear" said Madam Sprout "Where I can also keep an eye on the class."

Lilith went willingly.

"Mohini was starting her period early and her idiot parents hadn't explained things to her" said the little girl prosaically "And Jayashree hollered for our set because she panicked because her idiot parents hadn't prepared her either and the other girls in their dorm were scared and willing but a bit well, indecisive. Has NOBODY got sensible parents to warn their daughters? I had to give a brief lesson in reproduction to all the Huffer warts and Kazrael. At least VENUS knew about it. I s'pose they should have hollered for Lillias Borage or some prefect in their own house but as two of them are Porphyria and Deborah, I guess that's a disincentive to start with, or they could have yelled for you, but they didn't so we went over to help out."

"I see" said Madam Sprout. "I am generally in the greenhouses early anyway, so finding me might have been a little more awkward. I need to check with Mohini – to see if she is all right too."

Lilith nodded.

"Of course; and for what it's worth, McLaggan isn't doing it out of malice, he probably believes his own baboon-headed deductions because he can't think further than the end of his nose. SUCH a typical Gryffindor" she sighed.

"Now then, my dear, let's not have any inter-house silliness!" admonished Madam Sprout ushering the little girl back into class. "Miss Malik, do you feel all right now?"

"Yes thank you, Madam Sprout" said Mohini "Lilith lent me some stuff because she nicked it off her sister."

"It's what sisters are for; I did TELL her I was nicking it" said Lilith. "So I only stole it a little bit."

"Well, Mr McLaggan, your suspicions are entirely unfounded; and shame on you for jumping to conclusions" said Madam Sprout "I did not really believe that Miss Snape would be untruthful; and your disbelief of her word seems to suggest that you hold the giving of such very lightly. Now we have wasted enough time; and it is time to prune the Abyssinian Shrivelfigs so please put on your protective clothing. One may hope that the daffodils will soon return to normal."

"Please, Madam Sprout, are their colds likely to be catching for us?" asked Phylloxera.

Madam Sprout tried hard not to glare at her niece.

"Extremely unlikely" she said shortly. Really the girl hadn't got a clue about plants!

oOoOo

The daffodils were still snuffling desultorily after break for the lower sixth; but had mostly returned to normal by lunchtime bar a refusal to honk at all that lasted most of the rest of the day.

Madam Sprout was greatly relieved that they seemed to have suffered no lasting harm.

The Weird Marauders of course wanted to know what had happened; and after the Striped Marauders had jinxed them on general principles for disrupting their class, they told them in full detail.

"That McLaggan has it in for you" said Sextus to Lilith "How DARE he accuse you of lying?"

"Guess his own principles of truthfulness aren't so well developed if he assumes others will fib to stay out of trouble" said Lilith "AS Madam Sprout hinted. No, Sec, I'm not going to get him for it; he'll overreach himself in trying to do me down and then he'll get himself. Why should I bother over a worthless little tick who thinks he's somebody? He's a pile of doxy droppings. Leave him be. He's antagonised half the staff for knowing everything and turning out to know nowt; I really can't be bothered with him. Nice jape, you weevils; stay good in Herbology though from now on for a while, the poor old dear was quite worried about her honking daffs. And she's a good sort of type."

"Cheers" said Seth "we shan't upset her again; I'm sorry we worried her. It's not like we did anything to an animal!"

"Oh, plant lovers are silly about their wretched weeds" said Gennar "Look at Ludmila Yaxley!"

Ludmila Yaxley had added orchids to her collections of plants, and was particularly pleased with her egret orchids. The lower petal of each flower looked vaguely like a white bird and Ludmila had been decidedly snippy when Zajala Malfoy-Tobak had turned some of the flowers into real small birds and had them fly around the common room tweeting happily. It had turned to fisticuffs – unusual since Ludmila was a peaceable body as a rule and a natural ally of her step cousin – and had needed to be sorted out by Ludmila's cousin Clementine and Gorbrin as Zajala's brother.

The Slytherin common room still had tiny white birds roosting on top of the portrait of Ebeneezer Malfoy, who complained and grumbled especially when assorted Malfoys laughed at him and Nathan said that a little guano on the face would improve him no end.

Gorbrin had pacified Ludmila by pointing out that cutting flowers generally made more form and suggested cutting off the rest of the flower and its five remaining petals, that could be kept in water until they went to seed; if indeed they went to seed as a matter of course.

Ludmila and Zajala had shaken hands and agreed to joint care of the little birds and both threatened Nigel Badddock with the entrail expelling curse if he ever did as he suggested and used the little birds as substitutes for a real golden snidget.

It was however a prime example of how silly plant lovers could be over their at best semi-animate pets, Gennar particularly aware of this for having had his ears boxed by Ludmila for transfiguring his wand into a sword to fence with her Saggitarias spinifora when it was firing off spines!

The Weird Marauders however decided to do the decent thing and own up to Madam Sprout as she had been truly upset by their jape and so they duly broke bounds to visit the Forbidden Forest to bring the daffodils some nice leaf mould by way of compensation.

Madam Sprout, unsure whether to be pleased with their attempts at making amends or cross with them for breaking bounds to do so contented herself with telling them that they had been very naughty children but no real harm had been done and let them off with a warning not to interfere in her greenhouses again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The weather having improved, quidditch resumed; and the various heads of games begged a little leeway to get all the matches over before the holidays so visitors would not intrude.

"The two top teams could play a demonstration match, Professor Dumbledore" suggested Gorbrin.

"Well, if Professor Queach is agreeable to reschedule the junior chanting lessons to an evening for a few weeks, I can let you have Friday afternoons as well as the weekends; and make sure all your team members keep their noses clean. I will NOT give permission for them to miss detentions" said Professor Dumbledore.

Tony Queach was keen enough on quidditch; he was happy to rearrange chanting classes and to put up with less effort for a week or two. It was not, after all, likely to happen again.

oOoOo

Ravenclaw were playing like a team inspired this year; and both first and second teams beat Gryffindor without difficulty; and went on to face Hufflepuff. The first team won, with a comfortable margin; the second team caused the upset of the year when Kevin Slugworthy, NOT the world's greatest gift to quidditch, caught the snitch within two minutes by the expedient of having flown into it full tilt without even being aware what he was doing, and picking it up as it bounced off his forehead. Hufflepuff went wild!

The second team was, apart from Bethany Purbeck and Sebastian Diggory, two first years, generally made up of older also-rans; as the second year sported several very able young players who were likely to give the other houses a run for their money as they matured.

Slytherin faced Gryffindor next; and found themselves in a similar situation to Ravenclaw against Hufflepuff. A tough match was won by Slytherin's first team; and the Gryffindor second team won by a relatively early catching of the snitch by the Gryffs.

"And but for that we could have racked up a sufficient score to have made it irrelevant" said Paris Bullivant "That keeper of theirs, Bayard Chevallier, is too busy telling the beaters how to do their jobs to take notice of his job as keeper; another time we can fly rings round him."

Slytherin played Hufflepuff next; and the Hufflepuff second team had returned to its pedestrian norm. Both games were a loss by Hufflepuff to Slytherin.

It had been a good and hard fought season; and the shield would be going to Ravenclaw, for four and a half wins, the tie against Slytherin in the winter term counting as a half point. Slytherin racked up three and a half points over all; Gryffindor three; and Hufflepuff only the one for Kevin's fluke catch, that his own group teased him he had pulled off by gluing the snitch to himself with slug slime.

Kevin laughed, and said that somehow he thought the Ministry might have something to say if he taught his slugs to fly and trained them to chase the snitch for him. Roger Blake passed the conversation to Erica Malfoy and asked her to draw a cartoon of Kevin with his slugs on leads with little mechanical wings chasing a snitch; and Erica obliged. It was a very silly picture and Kevin was no end chuffed by it!

oOoOo

All in all the term was going well; the first years felt that they had been at school forever and were happily into the swing of school life, and delighted that their term's prank had gone well. The three youngest groups of Marauders met, discussed matters, and decided that it would be unworthy to pull any pranks the following term when scrutiny was on the school, even though it might be fun for Professor Dumbledore to be amused in his last ever term; but then, if anyone got waxy about it, it would not be a good way for him to leave.

They duly wrote a letter to this effect and all signed it as a solemn undertaking not to cause trouble after the end of any ongoing japes that should end before anyone started arriving so he might be entirely comfortable.

Albus roared with laughter over the note when he received it and was much touched that his youngest marauders should so consider his feelings.

He later received another letter that read,

"Us too, though as fifth formers we're really too old to pull japes anyway, unfortunately" signed by each of the Belle Marauders.

Dumbledore reflected that the modern Marauders had a rather more mature outlook than the original Marauders; the idea of James Potter considering himself too old for japes at sixteen was rather unthinkable. Albus wondered whether he should regret that modern youths considered themselves adult so young; or applaud it.

It was not, after all, as though the Belle Marauders did not enjoy life; because they certainly seemed to do so!

On the whole, youthful enthusiasm for life allied with a mature sense of responsibility seemed to be a good thing in those of OWL level and older.

And the Belle Marauders may not be pulling any japes, but Albus was pretty certain that a jape was in progress that they knew well about and were concealing; because he had overheard Isabel Nightshade saying to Maud Hubble-Langstaffe that priggy little gits like certain Ravers deserved all they got if they were too stupid and greedy for recognition to read all the clues and she hoped the kids stitched them up and good.

Albus chuckled to himself in anticipation.

oOoOo

The victims of the Riddle riddle jape – as Lilith dubbed it – had finally found their section of nipped off library shelf and had managed to poke cautiously into it with a remarkable degree of paranoia using a bug-o-sneak and entirely unaware that they were in turn being watched by a wide variety of Marauders using their own bug-o-sneaks. Lilith gave them full marks for being sensible over their ineffable stupidity. The Ravenclaw conspirators – who had managed to lose poor Robert Spikenard from their conspiracy now he was of no more use to them – almost fought to peer at the battered looking book.

"WHAT is it covered with? It feels quite horrid!" said Xanthia Fawcett.

"EEWW, I bet it's human skin!" said Emerald Cherrytree. Xanthia promptly let go of it.

Sampta Patil picked it up.

"Idiot!" she said "Sure it's not nice but we want to have something to make our names with, don't we? Whoever's skin it is – was – is past caring. It's just a kind of leather now. NO time to get squeamish!"

"The fact of it being human skin means it might contain an innate curse" opined Ingram Scrimgeour of the fourth.

Sampta froze momentarily.

"I don't believe that" she said "It – it's just the sort of melodramatic gesture a dark wizard might make to – to increase the horror about him."

"That's actually a fairly shrewd assessment" said Lilith to her gleefully watching friends "That mock human skin we found on the internet is just perfect; but I'm glad we didn't buy a bit with tattoos on, I think it would have been OTT."

"Wizards don't go much for tattoos anyhow" said Sextus.

"I don't see why not" said Lilith "It kinda makes sense to have a pattern tattooed that's a whole bunch of wards and anti jinxes. With ancient runes as a part of it."

"Yeah, but it's only us Marauders who like, actually do a whole lot with ancient runes and significant pattern" said Sextus "And I for one don't know enough about significant patterns."

"No, nor do I" said Lilith regretfully "It's one of the things Erica's going to research while she teaches basic art in magic at Prince Peak when she's finished her NEWTs; and Seagh's digging out some fey shit for her too, which is mostly the significance of Celtic patterns. Mazes and knots and so on; and Erica reckons there's relationships between them and the Julia-sets you find in Mandelbrot patterns that you can generate on the computer; which is arithmantic in nature."

"Yeah? I need to find out more about that I guess" said Sextus.

"Do that, but shut up or we can't hear our little victims play" said Kazrael.

The Ravenclaw group were finding themselves flummoxed by the logograms in the soft backed book; which was hardly surprising as Lilith and friends had made up twenty different ones and had written them out more or less at random, making sure to double some occasionally and to divide them into lengths of 'words' determined by throwing a die. Once they had written their rubbish they had fanned the pages several times and then used the book for quaffle practise to give it a sufficiently battered and aged appearance.

As they had already dyed the pages in cold tea to yellow them the Ravenclaws were duly convinced; and proceeded to take an unwonted interest in Ancient Runes to try to identify even what script the text was written in.

As Lilith said, with more sanctimony than true interest in their personal development, it would be GOOD for them to actually do some work.

She got poked for that.

She pointed out that they jolly well deserved a self-imposed impot for being mean to Robert Spikenard even though it meant he'd be the winner in the end for not being one of those gotcha'd; and her group, on due consideration, agreed.

They then went to find Robert, who was sulking gently.

"I say, jolly well done of you to escape from our plot against the terminally self-satisfied Ravers" said Lilith.

Robert's jaw dropped.

"You mean it IS a - of course, I was deeply suspicious of the whole business" he amended. "Especially when the Corbin twins backed out of the affair."

Lilith beamed at him.

"Well an efficient diviner like yourself we expected to pick up on all the so many ways it should FEEL wrong; and make that jive with all the clues we dropped in on the fact that it WAS wrong" she said "You have to be a bit demented and glory-hungry to ignore all those goloptious great clues and keep on pursuing nothing but doxy droppings. You WILL keep mum until April the first when it all gets revealed?"

Robert brightened.

"Sure I will kid!" he assured her. He would indeed! If it had been real, those wretched Ravenclaws had behaved pretty badly, after having sought out his help in the first place; and he was looking forward to seeing them taken down a peg or two!

oOoOo

The Ravenclaw conspiracy suffered something of a setback when certain members of their own second year found something out about it.

Both Ingram Scrimgeour and Sampta Patil had sisters in the second – whom Sextus and the boys of his dormitory avoided like plague as being, in their own idiom, priggish little gits – who were cronies in the adversity of a world bent on enjoying itself with the normal exuberance of twelve year olds. Simi Patil and Rufina Scrimgeour were, in the estimation of the Striped Marauders terminally middle aged and unlikely to grow out of it. They made something of an ally too of Jennifer Edgecombe, the daughter of a St Mungo's healer and great niece of one of the less efficient members of the Ministry of Education, whose daughter was a contemporary of Harry and co, and who had tried to spy on them. Jennifer was no prig but she did like a quiet life; and when consulted by Simi and Rufina opined that if the book their elders were so keenly perusing were NOT a hoax, then they were likely already unwittingly in the toils of the Dark Lord as if anyone would notice. Simi and Rufina took exception to this last snide addendum as a matter of principle, though Sextus filed it away as making Jennifer more interesting than he had hitherto supposed. The girls decided to tackle their elders and tell them that they ought to take their find to a grown up immediately.

Naturally, fifth and fourth years did NOT take kindly to warts telling them what to do and Simi and Rufina had to be rescued from some uncomfortable, if rather pedestrian, jinxes by Sextus and his dorm cronies Leo and Phil.

The youngsters were somewhat resentful – not unnaturally, though Sextus did tell them uncompromisingly that if they'd been a bit less pi in their approach and a bit more respectful to big people they might have got further – and swore that if the older ones wanted to get themselves well and truly caught by either Marauders or Voldemort it was their own jolly fault and if it was the latter, doubtless Professor Flitwick would manage to sort them out once they'd Learned Their Lesson.

They were still discussing whether it was right and meet to sneak on the older ones or not at bedtime, as it WAS potentially dangerous and only proper to save them from themselves; and Fenella Crawford suggested, in all innocence of the scheme, that they should sleep on it.

She was to regret this somewhat.

Monica Wintringham, a rather delicate girl in the same dormitory, had not taken part in the discussion, but in the small hours she got out of bed with her eyes quite open and went purposefully off towards the library quite plainly totally asleep, muttering that Voldemort was going to get them all.

Fenella sighed and went for Flitwick; one did NOT compromise over sleepwalking girls.

Professor Flitwick took Fenella's pleas to come and rescue Monica seriously; he had been warned that the child was inclined to sleepwalk if under stress and Fenella was, too, a sensible child who was not likely to panic over nothing. Fenella, taxed with what might be concerning Monica, sighed, and told the whole truth as she knew it.

Flitwick was horrified.

He knew, only too well, the toils that Tom Riddle could place in writing.

"Does Sextus Scarpin know about it?" he asked sharply in his high voice.

"He was in the common room while they were discussing it, so I guess so" said Fenella. "OH! No he DIDN't seem to be taking much interest; so I guess either the Marauders have it in hand or it's a wind up."

"Nicely reasoned my dear" squeaked Flitwick. "Ah, here is Monica; let us get her safely back to bed and you may bring her to see me before breakfast; and inform Rufina and Simi that they may ask their elders to come and see me AFTER breakfast. WITH their book" he added.

oOoOo

Monica was very grateful to Fenella for her assistance and begged that they might be friends; and Fenella, who had no close friend in Ravenclaw, sighed inwardly and agreed. Monica was a bit silly for Fenella's liking, but if the poor girl was lonely, Fenella would include her in her group of other friends, which consisted mostly of the girls in Hufflepuff and Maia Pleiades in Slytherin. She loathed Simi and Rufina, was wary of Jennifer for her apparent willingness to back them, and disliked the sixth girl in their dormitory, Sonia Goshawk, who was both nosy and inclined to pry into the affairs of others and then exaggerate what she had found to the point of lying. Fenella had found this out the hard way, being an open and trusting child; having explained that she had an older sister called Avice whose friend was Venilia Cornfoot who was as rich as her family was poor. Sonia had spread the story that Avice Crawford had scraped an acquaintance with the rich young witch in order to feather her own nest and was trying to seduce her into a lesbian relationship. It had reduced Fenella to tears in her first year, but as a member of the MSHG she had sensibly gone to her sister and other friends, and Venilia Cornfoot had threatened Sonia with her family quaestors for slander. It had made Fenella wary of friendships until she knew that anyone she wanted to make friends with was definitely on the level. Monica could do with the MSHG however; she slept poorly at the best of times, which made her irritable and a bit of physical fitness through gentle morning exercise might help her general state of health and lead to her sleeping better.

Fenella resolved to take the girl firmly along in the mornings.

After her kindness, and Flitwick's assurances that he would get to the bottom of this so-called Voldemort book, Monica was ready to do almost anything for Fenella!

oOoOo

The Ravenclaw conspirators were much less happy.

Professor Flitwick held out his hand wordlessly for their book.

"We were going to tell you about it when we had worked out a bit more, sir, so that Ravenclaw House would have the kudos of the find!" said Sampta.

"We were trying to decipher it, but we've had a little trouble with the logograms" said Xanthia Fawcett importantly, not wanting to be upstaged by Sampta, nor to admit that they were completely stumped.

"It did not occur to any of you then" said Flitwick with awful irony "That if this truly WAS written by Voldemort that his writings, whether you could understand them or not, might have been a trap for your very souls?"

They exchanged frightened looks.

"Is – is that possible?" gasped Sampta.

"Told you so" said Ingram Scrimgeour, smugly.

"Ah, Mr Scrimgeour" said Flitwick "It appears that you make up in some brains what you appear to lack in common sense; for Miss Patil has some excuse of not realising the traps that may be so embedded – unless you did so tell her. Whereas YOU continued with a potentially dangerous course of action even wondering if it were a trap. Permit me" he tapped the book with his wand; and cast Scarpin's Revellaspell. He opened it and tapped a page within. Then he permitted himself a thin smile.

"You are fortunate" he said "This book is quite harmless; I think however that attempting to understand the rubbish that is written as a disguise is a waste of your time. You will find that in a few days time, all will be revealed. Which being so I shall return the book to you; and you will spend the time that is not needed for further research in writing for me an eight inch essay on why it is the most remarkably foolish and misguided thing in the world to poke into the books of dark wizards, not forgetting or leaving out the fact that pride comes before a fall and that you are foolish in respect of being no true Ravenclaws in that the glory is more important to you than the good of the house, the furtherance of knowledge and the safety of your persons. You are remarkably silly children and whilst I might have expected such a degree of reckless mental turgidity from second years that will not consult figures of authority, I cannot conceive how children of fourteen, fifteen and sixteen years old can be so lost to the smallest modicum of common sense as to not even involve a prefect! Your head boy of house is Mad Lockhart; a FAR more able wizard than you will ever aspire to be, any of you; and he has knowledge of the Dark Arts that could have overcome even a malevolent book. WHY pray did you not take it to him?"

"Because he'd have usurped it for the Marauders!" said Sampta resentfully.

"Dear me, Miss Patil, do you really have so low an opinion of the integrity of your head of house – and of ME for appointing him?" squeaked Flitwick "I never heard such contumely – save when you managed to poison Miss Snape for her abilities last year. And may I say, Miss Patil, if I find you even once more in your school career in trouble of so foolish and childish a sort, I shall ask your parents to remove you and send you to a kindergarten where your mental faculties might be more at home! The Marauders are Marauders because they study more about defending against the dark arts than you can possibly comprehend; and if he had recommended destroying it, I should back that decision utterly! Now take your foolish book away; you will be late to lessons and I ask you to apologise to your various teachers on my behalf. I shall have your essays by the end of the week."

"Please Professor Flitwick, is it really bound in human skin?" asked Xanthia.

"No" said Flitwick "It is not. I believe you were dismissed."

They fled; and Flitwick was saved from having to say that he did not quite know what it WAS bound with.

He then hurried to his own class, which was fourth year charms; and proceeded to ignore those miscreants who had just come from his study; which was to say, Ingram Scrimgeour, Ferdinand Belby and Randall Corner; who had been given a grilling and were being well ticked off by Kevin Slugworthy for wasting their precious time with 'Ol' Flitters' by making prunes of themselves over something anyone with a grain of sense could SMELL was a set up.

Professor Flitwick pretended not to hear the affectionate, if unflattering, appellation of himself and set to briskly with work on the banishing charm.

He cornered Sextus at lunch time.

"WHAT is the substance covering your work of art?" he asked.

Sextus did not even bother to misunderstand him; Flitters was all there, all right!

"Polyethylene Polyamide" he said "Designed to resemble human skin; muggles play practical jokes too."

"Ah!" said Flitwick. "Most enterprising! Tell me, my dear boy, was this aimed at Miss Patil even though punishment was given and accepted?"

"Oh no sir!" said Sextus "Though we didn't mind catching her in the least, you know; as she was awfully GRUDGING in her apology to Lilith; it was set up to catch anyone fool enough to lust after the glory of finding it" and he proceeded to explain it in detail to Flitwick, including all the deliberate clues they had included to give anyone with sense the chance to back out.

"The Corbin twins sussed it; and they had intended to tell you anyway until they realised it was only us" said Sextus. "They're pretty cool actually. And Robert Spikenard bucked out of it too" he added. "Please sir, have you confiscated it? Only on the first of April…"

Flitwick smiled.

"I told them it was harmless, returned it, and told them all would be revealed in a few days. I can get far more than MOST people out of your ancestor's most excellent spell you know" he said.

"You are a real BRICK sir!" said Sextus.

"Sometimes the real lesson is in letting those foolish enough to fall carry on falling until they hit the ground" said Flitwick. "I do like to think you Marauders would involve a grown up over such a find?"

"Rather, sir! I don't want my mind mucked with by a dead creep, thank you!" said Sextus "Or at least top level marauders until we were sure there was something to poke into; Lilith got an idea out of this to try using Voldemortish passwords in Parseltongue in the library; and we were going to ask Lydia, Polly, Mad, Chad and Leo to come along."

Flitwick nodded.

"Very sensible" he said. "And you will keep we poor elderly types informed if you actually find anything?"

"Oh yes; that's a holler for Professor Dumbledore sort of moment I guess" said Sextus. "I say sir, I'm kinda sorry it only caught other Ravenclaws; it's not nice for our house."

"Alas, there are two types in our house" said Flitwick "The true academic; and those who use academe in hubris and personal ambition. As hubris leads to a fall, it carries its own innate lesson; and one may HOPE that those who study that particular lesson may learn from it. Never permit, my boy, your own power that is enhanced by the blood bond, to cloud your judgement and to lead you to your own hubris."

"I'll jolly well try not to, Professor; thank you for the warning. It can be a little heady at times" said Sextus seriously.

oOoOo

Term was coming to an end.

Seth reflected that next term would be his new father's last as Headmaster; but somehow, though that meant he would not see him every day, it meant he and Candace would not have to be formal to him. Uncle Aberforth had been repairing a ruined cottage just outside Hogsmeade; and the older Marauders had showed Seth exactly where it was on a Marauding map – at the other end of one of the goblin passages that dated to the 1612 rebellion!

"So we could visit dad if we wanted to?" said Seth.

Leo chuckled.

"If you ask me, it's as likely that the old reprobate will use it to sneak around the school for old times' sake and get under David's feet when he's busy being Professor Fraser!" he said. "My sister and her lot were weevils when Abraxus and co found those passages; and Jade Snape still preschool though she worked like stink to go up a year to be in the same class as them later. With the rivalry between the New Marauders and the Prowling Marauders I reckon all the best passages and secrets got found, but y'know I would NOT put it past Albus Dumbledore to do a bit of prowling himself, when he has the leisure, just to see if he can't unearth any more of the castle's secrets. And speaking of that, all the Marauders have a date in the library AND in sundry parts of Slytherin house with a Parseltongue chant."

oOoOo

The chant was not especially long or complex; merely calling upon any places hidden by Parseltongue to glow. And Marauders were spread throughout the library to mark any such places that did.

There were two.

One was a slab on the floor; the other was a blank wall that opened to the outside of the castle.

Lydia looked at the blank wall; and poked her wand at it. Nothing happened.

_**Sssss**__open__**sssss**_ she said.

Nothing appeared to happen; but when she advanced her wand again it passed through the wall.

"Subtle" said Lydia.

Bug-o-sneaks were promptly brought out; it having been an excellent idea on the part of the Ravenclaw conspirators who had managed to be moderately clever over their assorted stupidities, as Lilith said.

It was a room in wizarding space; a room that was a study, with chair and desk, a fireplace with permanent magical flames, a cauldron and potion making kit, and a selection of semi-dissected animals in jars. The oldest Marauders went in; and came quite rapidly out. The three adult marauders in the school were along too, so this was the Mad Marauders, Sirius, Remus and Assim.

"A den of Tom Riddle's" said Chad in disgust "He seems to have used it to brew illicit potions and to research things in peace; he dared not store school books in there lest anyone notice they were gone, but he DID read them in there, close to the library so he could easily reach them, that I wager. He did some….. experiments too; dissection, and, judging by what our wands tell us, vivisection."

"That so is not nice!" said Lilith.

"Well, that could be because he really WASN'T very nice" said Lydia "He was completely twisted; whatever crap the 'Witch Weekly' may try to say, he was twisted even when he started school. You younger ones aren't to go in there until we've cleansed it a bit with some serious chanting; it really is NOT nice."

"I can clear it of bad items" said Kreacher "I'm used to dark items."

"And I'll help" said Sirius. "He'd been crafting cursed items in there too, I'd say; I think I might just see if I can track down what book he was using. None of you lot have gone much for enchanting or you'd probably have happened upon it already."

"Ask Gorbrin, Ming and Albert to look" suggested Leo "And I shall too; I've been doing artificing even if I didn't take enchanting."

Sirius nodded.

"Willow might take a peek too" he said "Because Riddle was clever enough to use his wand to find exactly what he wanted; she can feel where it's been."

"Heh, kind of wizarding Google with Willow to track down the IP address" giggled Lilith.

"Leave muggle computers out of this half pint" said Sextus. "That's a fairly sophisticated study in there."

"Yes; I reckon this is what he set up for his sixth form studies and where he tracked down all he could about horcruces" said Sirius "There appear to be some notes in there; Remus and I will come back and look at them in detail later, and you lot standing by to use blood to extricate us if there's any traps in them. I want to see what other places he may have had before we study any one in detail."

The younger ones nodded solemnly; this was too serious to really WANT to be involved in first hand; and being trusted to help out meant that they were at least involved and not excluded.

Next they turned their attention to the flagstone.

Lilith was given the nod to say the Parseltongue word for this one; and the flag itself slid back with the faintest of grating sounds.

"Riddle did not do that" said Lilith in a clear voice "He didn't have the capacity or the knowhow or the opportunity. THIS one is an old passage – and I think it belongs to Salazar Slytherin himself!"

"I'm not about to dispute that" said Sirius. "Well we can't all get down it at once; I think the honour should go to Slytherin's heirlet, so long as you pick an adult to go with you, Lilith."

Lilith gave a squeal of delight.

"I want Akela because he doesn't lecture me as much as you, Padfoot" she said, firmly using the Marauder names for Remus and Sirius.

Remus laughed.

"I should do if you needed it, you horrid brat" he said "But you're not a bad kid."

oOoOo

The passage exited in Slytherin House; in one of the box rooms that formed the oldest part. Which, as Lilith said, did rather seem to confirm it being Salazar's own passage. The stonework of the passage had been old; and the dust on the floor required clearing with the vanishing spell. Remus reflected that he should not be surprised to see Lilith and the other second years clear dust with aplomb using a spell that they would not be taught until the sixth form. Their wand motions suggested they knew all about clearing dusty secret passages.

The box room was more ornate than many; with carven pillars.

Lilith pursed her lips.

_**Ssss **__open __**ssss**_she said before Remus could comment.

A pillar slid aside to reveal a spiral stair; and Lilith darted up it. Remus followed, cursing gently.

It opened from a buttress outside the castle.

"He'd want a quiet way out as well" said Lilith calmly "THAT used to be Salazar Slytherin's study; I wish we could stop it being a box room. It's another jolly good Marauding room."

"We can use it informal like" said Sextus. "It's one of those box rooms that hasn't been used for ages anyway; all the boxes are old."

"It's the one Cosmo Malfoy's stuff is in" said Remus gently.

"Truly, Akela? Then that's not so bad" said Lilith "We'll put non-marauder repelling spells on the door and use it informally like Sec suggested 'cos anyone can get to it from the library then, or outside, just with Parseltongue."

They pulsed the others to come through and Lilith put forward the idea of an easier to reach meeting place for normal mischief plotting instead of serious marauding business.

This was thought a good idea.

They then spread through Slytherin House and repeated their chants in various places, calling in the not-marauders of the lower sixth to help look out for things.

There was only one more secret place; a pinched off bit of wizarding space rather more crudely done than the Striped marauders had done in their jape, the only subtlety being that it required Parseltongue to open it.

It was hardly larger than a small cupboard; and contained a weird selection of random seeming articles; a pair of spectacles; a peacock feather pen; a goblin work musical box; a silver ring; a prefect's badge – Gryffindor; a crystal ball on a finely chased silver stand; a bottle of purple ink; and a snitch.

"Well!" said Lydia "If you ask me, this is fairly good proof that this was Riddle's first cache of stuff at Hogwarts; he stole from other orphans just to have power over them. And Albus was able to make his box of trophies rattle and try to fly out of his cupboard. I bet he thought he was so clever to hide them in wizarding space and behind Parseltongue; and thought no-one would ever find them. These are things he took just to torment those poor kids who he took them off, driving them crackers that they could not find them. All things the kids involved were likely to have valued" she added.

"NASTY little creep" said Lilith in distaste. "Well, perhaps Albus can find out some of the people they belonged to, and return them; at least they'll know then WHY their stuff disappeared. It's in the weevil boys' bathroom you notice; so he was looking for magic more sophisticated than his age group even then. Though he didn't do it as well as I should have done when I was a weevil" she said critically and with some satisfaction.

Several people laughed and ruffled Lilith's effulgent mop.

They knew what she meant; Tom Riddle had tried to prove he was better than others by pushing the boundaries of what he was expected to know. Lilith just absorbed sophisticated magic as she went along.

They went to mark it all on the Marauding map; and went for cocoa in Myrtle's loo.

It seemed appropriate.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Albus was of course apprised of the finds of the Marauders; and Sextus told Professor Flitwick out of personal affection and loyalty since he had more or less promised to.

Flitwick was delighted – and amazed – that a passage to Salazar Slytherin's own one time study existed; and pleased that the younger ones had not entered a study set up by Voldemort.

"And THAT reminds me of a story I heard" he squeaked "That a youngster complained that the popular prefect Tom Riddle had forced him into a room off the library that he opened by hissing at it, where he was hurt by some spell; and showed my predecessor where it was. Naturally the room was not found and Tom Riddle himself suggested that the boy had been having nightmares arising in guilt from having played a childish trick upon him. The child started having loud nightmares after that, and was withdrawn at the end of the year. I believe he later committed suicide. Poor child; he told the truth. THAT must be placed on record."

Sextus nodded. What an evil creep Riddle had been to exact such a revenge on some jape-mad weevil!

"It seems inconceivable that he should have been so – so petty and insecure as to react so violently with the cruciatus curse and with a boggart-implant compulsion!" he gasped.

Flitwick looked at him sharply.

"What do you know about such things?" he asked.

Sextus shrugged.

"We learn about the unforgivable curses as Marauders" he said "And I heard that you can tie a compulsion to view your worst fear to a desire to do unforgivable things to sort of discourage people. I guess Riddle just didn't tie it to anything except being asleep; which proves what a creep he was even then."

Flitwick nodded.

"Well that is so; and if it's being taught under the auspices of Professors Lupin, Khan and Black I'm sure you get plenty of ethics with the facts."

"Oh yes sir" said Sextus, deciding not to mention that he had heard of the boggart compulsion from Jade Snape – or rather, Jade Luytens as she now was – in the summer holidays when staying with Lilith.

oOoOo

And the first of April came; a Sunday morning.

There were no looks of chagrin on the faces of certain Ravenclaws before breakfast; so Sextus said to Sampta,

"Haven't you checked your book lately? I should think you ought to consider that a new month brings new things."

Sampta stared at him.

"What do you know about it?" she demanded.

"Well now, when Simi and Rufina were discussing it so loudly what do YOU think I know about it?" jeered Sextus. Sampta compressed her lips and ran off to find the book. Xanthia Fawcett went with her, so as not to be left out.

Their squeals of outrage were audible down in the Ravenclaw commonroom and Sextus took himself to breakfast with a malicious smile on his face and the pleasurable thought that he had just spoiled breakfast for them.

They, the male fifth years involved and the fourth years glowered throughout breakfast and Sextus took seconds.

They hedged him into a corner after breakfast in Ravenclaw Tower, before he could get away, wands levelled.

"Talk, you snotty little brat!" demanded Randall Corner "What did you DO to our book?"

"Actually old boy" said Sextus "It ISN'T your book. You only took it out of the place we hid it."

"WHAT?" demanded Patil.

Sextus grinned.

"Well, if you failed to pick up on the fact that Riddle would never write to one of his servants – they never were confederates, remember, only servants – in his own, private, language; and that he'd not use it to write and then fail to use it to pinch off his part of wizarding space using it, then you deserve to be caught as poor prunes. He DID use Parseltongue to nip off his study from the library; only WE involved grownups because we thought Voldemort rather too powerful and dangerous to treat with contempt and risk reading anything he'd written; because we might just as well have put a spell in with our balderdash that we made up to have you all babbling for days – not that anyone would have noticed – and humiliated even more just to teach you that it's not exactly hard to do and that Riddle could do something way worse. Anyone who got caught is stupid; and it wasn't aimed at anyone except someone stupid and greedy enough to want to grab the kudos for themselves. Because any reasonable person would have gone to Flitters with it."

This was the point at which they started hurling stinging hexes; most of which Sextus shielded contemptuously. A few got through; and then there was a CRAC! And a loudly cleared throat behind the six assailants.

They swung round. Lilith Snape, Gennar Malfoy-Tobak, Venus Nightingale, Kazrael Gan Tokar and Jayashree Pradhan were there.

"Well, Patil, looks like you never learn" said Lilith "If it's not being fooled by your own over-inflated ego, it's bullying juniors by trying to stack the odds against them; eight big ones on a second year. And he isn't even losing badly. Reckon you eight can take on us six? 'cos I don't. I think you'll mutter excuses and try to run away. You were had; because you thrust your heads willingly into the loops of our toils. And ignored ALL the get out clues we dropped in it!"

"They're like Riddle actually" said Sextus "Who was japed by a weevil, and took the kid into that study of his, and tortured him, and of course no-one could find it because of the Parseltongue and THEN, not content with that humiliating of the kid, Riddle gave him bad dreams until he was withdrawn and committed suicide; Flitters told me when I told him about the secret study."

Lilith's eyes narrowed.

"That does sound rather like my inadequate little creep of a grandfather" she said. "Had you lot, in your hubris actually forgotten that Voldemort is my grandfather? And that I'm a Parselmouth? And if you had the good of the school at heart you WOULD have asked me. But you're more like HIS heirs than I am, like Sec says. Now apologise to him for bullying him over your anger at your own stupidity or go for your wands!"

They went for their wands.

The Striped Marauders left them bonelessly dangling from one leg, disarmed and under langlock with boils on their foreheads reading 'bully' that they had chanted in while the group dangled.

Sampta made pleading noises.

Lilith undid the langlock.

"This better be good, Patil" she said grimly.

"If you leave us here, Flitters will find us and he said he'd expel me if I came to his notice again!" howled Patil.

"Hmm, maybe you should have thought of that before you were a party to eight fourth and fifth years on a wart" said Lilith. "Plead real nice, Patil; make a better job of it than your rather false apology to me last year. You really are a pain; and I'm utterly DISGUSTED to have caught you after you ought to have learned your lesson over being so trusting about rumour! As actually all of you ought to have done, the way you had to wear spots saying 'pratt' for three days for bullying Zabini."

"You're interfering in our exam work, playing this prank!" cried Patil.

"Doxy droppings" said Lilith rudely "YOU chose to get involved. We hoped to catch some third or fourth years; you jolly well ought to be too old to be daft enough not at least to go to an adult over anything as dodgy as something written – supposedly – by Tom Riddle. YOU interfered with your own exams so nix to that rubbish. Are you going to plead nicely? If not I'll put the langlock back on because I have things to do."

"PLEASE let us loose!" begged Patil. "I'm really sorry we lost our temper with Scarpin; he does rather ask for it!"

"Y'know I don't think anyone ASKS for six bigger people to gang up on him" said Lilith. "One of you, maybe. Though I don't suppose you'd dare. Say 'we're too cowardly, Mr Scarpin, and we're very sorry we troubled you with our inadequate little attempts to hurt you' and if you hadn't made that crack about asking for I'd not have insisted on it being that humilating" she said.

Patil sobbed; and stumbled through repeating it.

Lilith snapped her fingers and released all six.

"How did you get in here anyway?" demanded Scrimgeour.

Lilith regarded him with contempt.

"Don't you think, that as one of Slytherin's heirs, I can circumvent a lot of stuff?" she said in scorn. It was a way of covering the ability of all bloodkin to do elf style apparation. Sextus went and stood with the rest as they apparated smoothly away.

"That's an enemy or two we've made" said Gennar.

"If they're the sort who will gang up on a smaller kid, they're the sort of people I'd rather have as enemies than anything else" said Lilith. "And we gave them the chance to apologise for bad temper and nasty manners before we ganged up on them. Patil is a silly cow; she MIGHT just grow out of it now. Cherrytree is a follower; more akin to Peter Pettigrew than anything else. Fawcett wants to be someone and doesn't much care how she does it; and the three fourth year boys are just stuck up and self opinionated and either they'll grow out of it, or they'll leave with just enough qualifications to try to find a position in the ministry to be little Hitlers. They haven't got the balls to be Voldemorts" she added.

It was after the second years had left that the Ravenclaws realised they still had spots saying 'bully' on their foreheads.

With one accord they fled to find Madam Hardbroom to ask if the improved potion they had heard about would take it off.

"I expect if I ask Miss Snape nicely she will brew a batch of her new potion" said Madam Hardbroom.

Sampta paled.

"Lilith Snape and friends put the spots there" she muttered.

"Well I suggest then, you find them and ask nicely" said Connie who did not for one moment suppose that her great niece and friends would do such a thing without cause.

The group did no such thing; that would be just TOO humiliating.

The Striped Marauders relented and took the spots off after bedtime – just to demonstrate that they could control them without even being in the same room – so the conspirators need not have them on in school. They had resorted to hats and fringes over the Sunday, and little Flitwick had looked at some concealed evidence of malefaction, and sighed.

But nobody complained; so he did not interfere.

Sampta also had to put up with her little sister in her ear and only with difficulty restrained herself from jinxing the younger girl; because she was certain that Simi WOULD sneak.

oOoOo

Sampta was not nasty by nature, just rather self opinionated and thoughtless; and she sought out Lilith.

"Truth – it wasn't set up for me?" she asked.

"No" said Lilith "I did wonder if you'd drop in it; but you didn't ought to have."

Sampta flushed.

"I want to shine; my mum's a muggle, and she's widowed and I don't hardly remember my father. I need to show that I can be a Ravenclaw in ability! I – I'm sorry I bullied your friend and haven't been nice to you."

"Let me answer that and tell you about my mum" said Lilith "She was raised in a muggle orphanage with NO knowledge of her parents or their background; because her mum was a muggleborn half Malfoy and Voldemort was a tart who used her. She didn't get to school until she was your age because the orphanage leached magic. She had Harry Potter to help protect as well as work to catch up; and she shone by two things. One was by putting in a helluva lot of reading to catch up to the point she actually took five OWLs after just one year's education; and the other way was by helping out others, those who were less talented in her class, and younger ones too. Now she had an unusual background and the talent to also defy and betray Voldemort whilst pretending to be his worshipful daughter; but if you want to shine, strikes me you could do worse than emulate her. Like your twin does. Sita works hard and isn't afraid to share her knowledge with others. Knowledge isn't to be hoarded and hidden; 'cos when you discuss what you've found with others they have other insights and the whole bag of tricks grows. I guess if you can break away from trying to scringe knowledge to yourself like a word-miser you'll actually find you're a lot happier – and probably that work will come easier. I guess Fawcett is a pain to have to be with 'cos she's incorrigibly awful; but you and Cherrytree can be stronger than that, you know. You don't have to compete with Fawcett; just by being less Amos Leroy and more sort of normal, you win and she loses. Simple as" she added.

Sampta blinked.

"I always seem to have been having to compete" she said "With Fawcett and Damon Ogren for academic work and quidditch, and with Jack Murray for quidditch."

"Yeah, but the point is, it shouldn't be a competition!" said Lilith "Ravers are supposed to love work for the sake of it; the Hat offered me Ravenclaw, but of course as a descendant of Salazar Slytherin I couldn't really take it up; it's kind of family-disloyal. Patils always split between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, 'cos there was a pair up in my mum's time, cousins of yours through your dad I guess. If you just enjoyed your work, I betcha you'd actually do better than the other idiots anyway because you'd actually be putting your heart in it, not doing it out of a desire to win some dubiously childish game of points that THEY have made you feel is important; and I bet they tease about having a twin who's a Gryff and make bone-headed jokes and hint that you're not really a proper Raver – yeah, thought so" as Sampta flushed. "They matter why? The Malfoys have this kind of joke that they can get into any house because it doesn't really actually matter that much. No it doesn't" Sampta had gasped and looked ready to refute that "House is generally about the type of people with whom you feel most comfortable. I felt comfortable going with family affiliation. But if the Hat had been insistent, I guess I shouldn't have quibbled if I'd been with Sec in Ravenclaw; or Venus in Gryffindor; and if I might have rather not been a Huffer, at least my year's Huffers are nice kids and compensation for feeling vaguely that it's not quite Maraudery to be one. You're academic; you picked the academic house. And Flitters is most awfully helpful to those who need help; my mum asked him for extra help with stuff she had trouble with, you know! She made an ass of herself on the first day by growing legs on a pineapple because she'd never heard of locomotor charms; but she got over it. You want to compete with just one person – yourself! To be better than before; to improve constantly. And ignore the rest."

"That's easy for someone as talented as you to say" said Sampta.

Lilith considered.

"That's fair comment" she said "But there's things I'm NOT good at; like divination. And I'm going to go back and study Divination, even if I only scrape an 'A' in it to OWL because I'm not going to be beat by a subject that mystifies me. Metalwork is all new to me; and I'm not the best in the class at it. Enchanting the same. But I don't let it beat me; and I WILL get 'O; grades because I want them, for me; not because I have any kind of competition with anyone" she considered "I suppose" she said "I do have a competition with my rotten grandfather, to prove I can be more academic than him and a nicer person and learn more about the Dark Arts without wanting to use them because I'm bigger than that. Which is a bit childish I guess; but it does embarrass me rather that he's an intermediate step between being descended from Slytherin."

"You sounded quite proud of being his granddaughter"

"Not proud; defiant" said Lilith "And the point I was trying to make when I reminded you was that I'm a Parselmouth who could have easily read the crap we wrote on that letter. Like I can open the secret stores he made of things he stole to discommode people; and that nasty study of his. Sometimes I use it to remind people that I am quite hard. Avoiding a fight is better than winning it you know; and it's the same reason animals use threat display. I'm not very good with handling magical beasts either as it happens" she added. "I don't have any knowledge between being small and probably tasty and overkill. I am having to learn something in between you know; and it's quite tough actually."

"Well! I guess you're not stuck up about what you can do if you can be honest about what you cannot" said Sampta "And I'll think about what you've said and try to ignore competition. Pax?"

"Gladly" Lilith held out a hand; and warily they shook.

If Sampta would only talk to Sita, she ought to sort herself out!

And Lilith would keep an eye out to jinx Simi if the younger girl tried to stir!

Sampta had said some pretty nasty things about Daddy last year, reflected Lilith, but if she was feeling inadequate, then sniping at him to get at a little girl who made her feel more inadequate was more a case of wanting to lash out blindly than actual spite towards Daddy. And, she reflected, he DID have his reputation; especially in Ravenclaw House because Daddy was rather inclined to grumble about daft Ravenclaw girls. Sampta's comments on Daddy could be ignored. And it would be good if she COULD help the daft moo to turn herself around a bit!

oOoOo

And then they were on holiday.

Lilith was remaining at the school; not because she could not happily cross Europe on her own to Prince Peak, because Lilith had no qualms about being able to do so; but because it hardly seemed worth it with Lydia incarcerated in school to revise for NEWTs and Daddy and Mummy coming to join

the brief, private party that would take place before the big affair. And Daddy would have to come to that as Severin Prince, as part of the government. The most important people were to stay in the school; that was the most important people in Albus Dumbledore's eyes of course, which was to say Harry and his closest friends and the governors. The important people in government who were not personally involved in either school or Harry's victory must make shift as best they may, either in Hogsmeade or in a tent city that Dumbledore was laying on. The tents were to be luxurious wizarding tents and would hopefully make a profit to raise another scholarship or two, being run as hotels. Prince Peak would be going back to school a couple of days later than normal to allow for half the staff having been Harry Potter's bodyguard and friends; and Hogwarts would not itself officially reopen until after the two day celebration.

Lucius and David's enchanted helicopter taxi company would do extremely well out of it, as they always did with sporting events; Wizard Whirligigs was a very successful venture!

The old fashioned portkey would see much use as well, of course; small communities would find that easier than a helitaxi, and almost all the wizarding world would converge on Hogwarts for the few days the celebrations were to go on. There were around half a million wizarding folk in Britain, including goblins and elves and it was likely that at least half, and probably nearer eight out of ten would arrive for at least part of the celebrations; and it was a logistical nightmare. The Marauders had taken over some of the arranging of the logistics; and Lydia had pointed out to Dumbledore that using muggle shops for the requisite stores was not only a good idea but fairly vital; and proceeded to commandeer anyone who was left in school who could work in muggle money to buy supplies from a carefully worked out list. Lucius and Beloc were able to help out with this; Lucius owned a whole chain of muggle hotels scattered around the world and Beloc ran the old Malvaison Mansion as a hotel and holiday experience for those of the Wizarding world who wanted a luxury break in the south of France. The profits were shared between Beloc's family – which included Mimi and her younger half siblings – and a fund to buy and free house elves. Beloc had been quietly buying elves most of whom worked now in the hotel, most free and a few too scared of freedom to be anything but slaves. Naturally they had all made a trip to England to cross the line that freed them from the compulsion to self punish! Beloc had closed the hotel for Easter – save for a few habitués, mostly French, who were left in the care of the other elves in the main wing only – in order to lend support and his skill at running things. He and Kreacher and Dobby had done a lot of staring down noses at each other and jostling around themselves to establish position; they were all blood-joined but Beloc was jealous of his position as one of the first two elves – his sister being the other – in the group, and of having attained the zig-zag scar in the battle for Hogwarts. Kreacher was jealous of his position as elf to Regulus Black who had moved secretly against Voldemort; and Dobby was jealous of his position as Harry's friend. They shook hands and admitted that each was vital when Mimi told them all off for acting like ruddy deatheaters.

Mimi was feeling particularly snippy because her Darryl would not be visiting England – even in the throes of greater news, there would be some fool reporters who still wanted to harass him – and she must stay in school because of her approaching OWLs.

There was to be a tent that was a display of the life and death of Tom Riddle; people would only speculate if it was not laid out, because he fascinated as much as repelled; and photographs could now be included of his secret study where, as the caption put it, he was able to take and torture a small child so that the faculty became convinced that his little victim was not sane. Photographs of Myrtle too showed the victim of the basilisk, and photos of the basilisk dead in the chamber of secrets. The collection of items stolen was placed on display with a comment that this habit had not changed from Tom's hoarding of the same sort of things in the orphanage; his subtler means to hurt had grown later. Bella, white faced, had asked the head to let those who remembered her old self see WHY she had been such a bitch; and Dumbledore had refused to allow a Pensieve experience to be used. He explained kindly that partly it was because he did not want Bella herself exposed to the prurient gaze of those who would see her experiences and partly because he did not wish to risk the Pensieve being stolen. Instead he asked Sirius to write up the experiences of his little cousin without too much detail; enough pictures of Bella the first time around were available to show a change in her face from slightly wilful child through to cunning, driven, dedicated deatheater. He told Bella herself to wear her hair in plaits and be a little young at people. Bella had giggled and said it was, after all, her last chance to be young because OWLs surely had an ageing effect on the spirit if not the body.

Artist's impressions – Erica's – had shown Voldmort as the mandragora homunculous Krait had first known, and later the tall and horridly reptilian figure he had become subsequently. This form had some resemblance to the Tom who had visited Dumbledore when he first became Head; and of which there was one photo. Horcruces were described as 'Dark items made with terrible ritual in which to store hidden life' and Riddle's obsession with trying to get hold of the various House treasures was spoken of. Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's goblet were on display, with the Peverell ring in a locked and goblin-made case with unbreakable glass; security trolls guarded these items.

Dumbledore had to write the section between Tom leaving school and declaring himself as Lord Voldemort; the time at Borgin and Burke's was fairly well documented but of Tom Riddle's other travels, as much was speculation as known to that canny wizard. That he travelled widely and came upon knowledge of more Dark Arts in Germany was fairly likely; since Durmstrang taught the Dark Arts openly, and Grindelwald and his followers had once been as notorious as Voldemort later became. What was significant about this period of Riddle's life of course was that he left as handsome Tom Riddle and returned with the ravages to his features and reddish eyes engendered by the dabbling too deeply and without wisdom into the darker arts.

Lucius had recreated some of the incidents in Pensieve memories for Wizarding Wireless Vision shown in globes as short pieces throughout the display; that would, too, form part of a documentary to be shown later in the year for the use of NEWT level History students. He had used actors to be as close as possible to the appearances of those in the actual memories, fictionalising slightly those parts either too dangerous to show in detail, and to emphasise the use of control for his own and Severus' protection; and glossing over the extent of James and Sirius' unwitting bullying of Wormtail Pettigrew, suggesting instead a small jealousy permitted a control and compulsion to be implanted by Tom Riddle, even as he suggested this had led to Severus' own initial control by the dark lord, allied with jealousy over Lily Evans. It showed the dangers of good people making mistakes.

Equally he left out Krait's use of a basilisk form to turn Bella Black-Lestrange into stone before reducing her to childhood, suggesting that it had been done as a chant in the same way that Dumbledore had turned the Odessa man into a baby.

He did NOT spare the ministry over their facile acceptance of lies and casuistry and their initial desire to sweep unpleasantness under the carpet before making knee-jerk reactions so draconian that they played right into Voldemort's hands. And Lucius filmed a poignant incident, where Draco portrayed Lucius claiming the Imperius curse had the character of Lucius walking away from the wizgamot's supposed release of him from that curse with a look of profound horror and realisation that the depth of his compulsions had not been explored nor removed; and ended with the line 'but he still owns me; and there is no escape from that' and the gaze of self revulsion into a mirror before cutting. It was not true; but it would have been had Lucius then realised how much he WAS controlled.

Salazar Gaunt-Moody – he had adopted his adoptive father's surname alongside his real father's wizarding family name – played the young Tom Riddle in the orphanage, even as Draco played Lucius; and Ed Dinalt played his cousin Severus and discovered a talent for acting and proceeded to take up acting full time, brewing potions for sale as a sideline, leaving his job as a ministry inspector of potion shops with alacrity.

The display was finished with a short piece by the Head which ran,

"The irony was that Riddle was ultimately defeated by ritual normally associated with the dark arts but used in a way that precluded any darkness in it; blood magic. Lily Evans Potter's sacrifice of life and blood saved her son; and by that sacrifice gave him a haven in the home of her sister, through blood-bond. The difference between the blood magic used to save Harry and such used in the dark arts was that the sacrifices undertaken were willing and given with love. Love is still the greatest magic. Those who subsequently bonded with Harry to bleed for him did so in the full expectation that some or all of them would die in his place when he faced the Dark Lord. There is no greater love than to be prepared to lay down life for another; and there is therefore no greater magic. The original Blood Covenant was made to Harry by Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Krait Malfoy Snape, Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, Jade Snape, Lydia Snape and David Fraser; they were joined before the battle for Hogwarts by Sirri Malvaison Snape, Beloc Malvaison, Erich Snape, Grace Snape Malfoy, Romulus Snape, Ellie Devlin Fraser, Kinat Konal, Willow Prince Black, Abraxus Malfoy and Hawke Malfoy and Myrtle Carmichael Malfoy; and Lilith, Richard and Sevvy Snape, born to it. These are those who bear the zig-zag scar that does not fade."

Myrtle had been drawn from the cauldron with the scar in place as much as on any of the others as she was effectively partly made of their essence; and she HAD been at the battle of Hogwarts as a ghost and felt herself as much a part of the others as any. Others had subsequently been marked by the zig-zag scar when the killing curse was passed around, thrown by such as Odessa agents; but such scars faded in time to be scarcely visible. Only those who had taken Voldemort's full venom had scars that burned with white fire when they were angered; only those scars remained forever as pink as Harry's. And though many of them now knew that they could remove those cursed scars through chanting, still they wore them as badges; because nobody acquired such scars who had not been in the forefront of the fighting.

Dumbledore had included Ron and Hermione though they had blooded in later; because they were Harry's greatest friends and had only wavered because of Molly Weasley's objections and Hermione's own muggle concepts of hygiene and blood poisoning.

Their support had always been there after all; as indeed had Myrtle's.

oOoOo

Those of the school who were staying over the holidays got to see the display first; and voted it well done and not in the least likely to glorify Voldemort but was a tribute to the Headmaster's compassionate understanding of Tom Riddle and his ongoing descent into a darkness too profound for him to realise its depths and his stubborn refusal to accept that he even needed help.

Those taking history declared that Lucius' life of Tom Riddle would be a classic; and very helpful in understanding how he had risen to power and that all that it took for evil to triumph was for good men to look away.

oOoOo

It may be said that there were those in the upper sixth and in the fifth who complained bitterly about the intrusion on their revision time of this display and celebration; Xanthia Fawcett was one of the loudest.

Lydia laughed harshly.

"You are a poor prune, aren't you?" she said "When it happened for real, when they killed Voldemort, my mum was taking her NEWTs; and while he was distracting them a sight more the year before, when it looked like he was probably going to win, Harry and Ron and Hermione and Draco and Neville were taking their OWLs and they just had to get on with it, as well as running around searching for horcruces; because they had REAL hunts to undertake for things that meant the difference between the wizarding world being free, or being enslaved by Voldemort. Necessary distractions; and if I were you, someone who got suckered into looking for spurious things for their own little bit of glory should be a bit quieter about distractions. You're free to whinge because those who supported Harry Potter put their qualifications second and the freedom of the world first. I know; I was there."

It was Sampta who asked,

"Was the Lydia Snape named in the list of primary covenanters YOU?"

"It is" said Lydia "Jade and I were blooded to protect us so the rest could take the cruciatus curse off us if HE kidnapped and tortured us, if he suspected out parents; and we were, too, glad to take damage for Harry. Harry Potter is one of our family; he's always been an uncle to us. And I get sick of silly kids whining about how tough it is when I saw first hand how tough it really was for the principals in the Battle for Hogwarts."

Sampta nodded.

"I guess we don't know what tough is" she said "Xanthia's a bit shallow; you can't expect her to have a chance of understanding, poor thing."

"Meow" said Lydia cheerily. "True though. We kept up the tradition of marauding in case another Tom Riddle ever happened; and to depress the pretensions of those who think they have to put others down. But I'm not worried about Fawcett; she doesn't have either the brains or the charm of manner to try to emulate Riddle even if she is as self-obsessed."

Fawcett glowered.

These wretched Snapes were so snide and self possessed; and finding an answer to them was impossible! It wasn't fair!


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

The main protagonists arrived for their private celebration, with Severus grumbling that there was no need to drag the whole business up and Ron laughing and saying any excuse for a party was a good excuse.

"Your idea of a good party is one where you eat too much" said Krait amicably.

"There are other things to do at parties?" said Ron.

The Order of the Phoenix was there too of course; and junior Marauders in school were invited. Moody had brought his wife Abigail and her son Salazar, who was promptly collected by Lilith, along with Sevvy and Tarquin, by such of her set as were there. The three boys were to start Hogwarts next year, being the same chronological age as Lilith; and they were much excited! The Peverell ring was to be Salazar's from that day too and he let the children take him to see the display, including his own part in Wizarding Wireless Vision playing the part of his father.

"It's actually quite scary" said Salazar seriously "To reflect that when Professor Dumbledore came to meet him, Tom Riddle was pretty much the same age I am now and already fairly old in wickedness. It felt awfully odd playing him and being such a creep; I hope nobody thinks I am when I get to school, just because I did the acting."

"Doubt it" said Lilith "Anyway, if they're that stupid they're not worth being friends with; you'll be starting with Sevvy and Tarq anyhow, so you'll have some types who know you well."

Salazar nodded; he had grown up in Orme Court alongside assorted Snapes and Casimir Malfoys; and had been reared alongside Lilith for the first few years of his life.

Tarquin was to retain the name Prince; though he was Severus' cousin, Willow's little brother, he looked on Severus and Krait as his parents; but for the purposes of keeping alive Severus' secret membership of the council, he was to be assumed to be the son of Severin Prince; which as Severin and Severus were the same person and as Tarquin had been raised as his son, was not really that far from the truth de facto. The three were also introduced firmly to Candace Dumbledore; they already knew the brother of another Marauder, Charlie Rawlins, younger brother of Charis, and too Timothy Pender Malfoy and Neesa Smith, the adopted daughter of squib Anastasius Smith and his muggle actress bride, who was now working for Wizarding Wireless Vision. They would come later; Anastasius had been invited as he had helped with military advice and training, but he did not feel as close to the central group, he said, as some were. David Fraser regretted his friend's refusal; but knew that Anastasius was as private a man in his own way as Severus, and Severus was only there because so many of those who had fought were definitely family to him. He was as much a father to David as the young man's own much loved dead father; and had become a father to Harry too, after initial tribulations, and a second father for Neville until Krait's use of unicorn form had given unicorn blood to cure both Longbottoms.

'Do-you-remembers' were doing the rounds of the feast, both Krait and Hermione laughing ruefully as Draco recalled how Krait had gone out of her way to shock people and Hermione's favourite phrase had been 'what ARE you like, Krait?'

Convolvumort had to give a speech at this juncture, joined by Grace as Leaky the house elf and David as Tuurd the troll; and a good time was had by all.

The younger members of the feast took themselves off to thoughtfully provided mattresses and sleeping bags as they felt the need so they need not leave the party entirely; they had screens to cut down the light if they wished to sleep, or might doze and get up for refreshments as they chose.

And Madam Minerva McGonagall proposed a toast to Harry and his disobedient friends whose failure to accept that children did not ought to be involved probably saved the day.

"Krait pointed out tae me that some must give up their childhoods so that others had the chance to have theirs; weel, it seemed harrd tae me, but she wis aye right" said Minerva "Though I cud hae wished is wisnae so. And I like tae think that with Odessa gone, yon wee marauders micht forbye hae a fine childhood wi'oot having tae tak' the responsibeelities o' ithers ontae their wee shoulders!"

"Oh I daresay we'll manage to flush out other dark wizards to play with, Minerva!" said Lilith cheekily.

"Wee sumpf" said Minerva without rancour.

oOoOo

And next day saw thousands upon thousands of people pouring in; almost in the nature of a pilgrimage. Many of those coming had never been to Hogwarts school and would not be able to send their own children; but it was still a focus and a centre of the wizarding world in Britain. And they wanted the chance to get a glimpse of Harry Potter in person; and Professor Dumbledore; and others of the great and good.

Severus was dressed as Severin Prince in his velvet mask; and the other three governors of the school arrived to join Lucius. Other members of the Council came, and highly placed people in the Ministry.

As it was on school premises, wand use was not forbidden; and it may be said that certain stuffier members of the ministry fluoresced unwittingly from their nether regions with the fluorescent fart curse.

The Hogwarts express arrived too and disgorged its mob of children; who, at the request of Lydia as Head Girl and the other prefects to back her, marched quietly and in an orderly fashion back to school rather than being the usual screaming mob. It impressed such visitors as had already arrived; which was the general idea.

And Lydia was to take charge of the Governors.

Helicopters came and went, each bringing more visitors; the fenced off area of the moor, where the portkeys came to, had frequent arrivals; and the second train laid on brought yet more. It had stood behind the express; and had too been a stopping train, calling at several places on the way, and its passage through muggle railway networks the proud work of Lee Nuffield, who had called upon the railway club of Prince Peak to aid in the difficult task of scheduling every inch of the journey! Lee brought his cousin Bryony to introduce to other Parselmouths like Salazar, as Bryony was also starting school in the next academic year; and left them to it with instructions to Bryony to try not to get into too much trouble. Bryony succeeded in looking so innocent that Lee groaned inwardly and almost took her firmly by the hand to keep by him; but decided she might as well get some at least of her exuberance out of the way now as later.

He left them hissing happily to each other and hurried off so he could not hear what they might be plotting. After all, they were probably related in some degree; the muggle Nuffield family had Peverell ancestors if you went far enough back.

Prefects were showing people around, if they wanted showing, acting as ushers; as were sundry younger children and Lee reminded himself that he was not a Professor in this school whatever he was in Prince Peak and it was NOT his responsibility to warn unwary visitors that the sense of humour of the adolescent was at times basic and could be relied upon to lead the unwary not only up the garden path but deep into something unpleasant if given half a chance. He was off to see round the school properly for the first time; for the only time he had been here was as a member of the St Jodoc's cricket team, when all had seemed perfectly normal and mugglish to the muggle boys. Perhaps his friend David Fraser would show him around! Or failing David, one of the Malfoy twins; though they seemed to have their hands full of a contingent of young people with a partial uniform, presumably visiting from the free school.

The free school had come up as a field trip; since most of its professors had been involved in the Battle for Hogwarts they were excited to see for themselves where the action had taken place; and since most of them were too poor to afford the fares ordinarily, the school had organised the hiring of a couple of carriages on the tourist train. And some were hoping to aspire to be sponsored to this big, prestigious school to take NEWTs too; not that there was any lack of ability in their own professors, but the chance to graduate from Hogwarts, and too, to take advantage of its wide range of subjects, was reward for effort and talent.

Hawke Malfoy was looking around.

"Oy, Blake!" he called.

Roger Blake, the half elf boy, ran over.

"Sir, Mr Malfoy?" he said.

"Blake, my lad, you and your bunch of reprobates – yes, I've heard of you – take three of my girls and show them around; Storm, Zephyra and Jocelyne have every chance of coming into your class for the sixth so they might as well get to know the worst elements in the class first."

Roger grinned.

"You're TOO kind, sir" he said.

The girls were weighing him up; Storm and Zephyra had a fey-like beauty, Storm also with goblin in her features; Jocelyne had a snub nose and a firm chin and distinct suggestions of part goblin antecedents.

"Sisters? Twins?" Roger asked Storm and Zephyra.

"No; our mothers are twins. They wanted us to have a chance to be more than whores" said Storm, tossing her head.

"Ah! Prime candidates for our club; we call ourselves the SAS, the Society Against Slavery; and poverty is a form of slavery too" said Roger. "And I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sponsored; though by all accounts you have as good teachers in the New Marauders and cronies as your professors as we do here, so you don't lose out, 'cept in prestige. Jocelyne, nice to meet you too; are you interested in our society?"

Jocelyne tossed her head.

"Not really; I'm interested in doing all I can to get on in life; not joining kids' gangs with soppy names."

Roger blinked.

"Oh well!" he said "I guess you've never felt yourself as much in a poverty trap or actual slavery as some people; you may as well trail around with us though. You two will join, won't you?"

"Only if it's free" said Zephyra.

"Oh yes!" said Roger "We do stuff to raise cash to do things like buy out elves who are badly treated and we hope to get scholarships for people when we're all out and earning; 'cos if we continue to pool resources it should mount up. But that's sort of joint efforts and Kevin's artistic endeavours with his ruddy slugs."

This necessitated a long explanation about the slugs and Kevin's artworks using their colourful and changeable trails; and Storm and Zephyra, wary at first, were soon keen to be involved with this cheerful group of friends; and finding that Roger lived in Obscura Alley in the holidays were resolved to look him up. Storm and Zephyra did not give loyalty lightly; but by the end of the day they had firmly pledged loyalty to the SAS and all its strangely disparate members, ranging from one of Mr Malfoy's step children, Zajala, down to a boy whose own goblin father had owned him and only wanted him to go to school to be a better slave – forgetting that giving the half elven boy Kaur clothes for school uniform automatically freed him. And there were others with names that read like the names in the society- chasing magazine 'Which Witch' – Ludmila Yaxley, whose brother in law was also their headmaster at the free school, Neville Longbottom; Oliver Prince; and Cecil Burke, of some notoriety over his father's being in prison. They may not have recognised all the other surnames; but that these kids were, many of them, posh, and yet with no side at all was a revelation.

And Roger went to wheedle Neville to let the SAS put some funds towards paying for them to come early and start in the next September.

They did not bother to wheedle on Jocelyne's behalf nor offer funds for her.

oOoOo

The Belle Marauders were another busy society; taking turns to check their view-o-sneak into the oubliette to see whether they had yet acquired a prisoner. Mimi was wearing an Iron Maiden T-shirt bearing the slogan 'in Ed we trust' with the eponymous skeleton on it playing an electric guitar just to freak Cooper out if they were allowed to decant him from their trap.

They were getting quite put out that Buckley Cooper had not arrived by tea time; though the Cooper family had, and were being shown firmly around by selections of younger Marauders as bodyguards. Bella opined to her group that any one of the second and third year marauders was a match for any dark wizard up to and including the average deatheater and could even hold someone as hard as Lucius long enough to holler up help. Her friends did not disagree; in such a situation, whoever confronted a dark wizard would become the focus for the entire blood group's efforts, lifting their abilities temporarily to the superhuman. And even without that, the second and third year marauders had tools at their disposal few outside the blood group might even guess at; because the research into post NEWT magic tended to filter down!

oOoOo

"Hey, Bella" said Seth "Omnioculars have glass lenses same as muggle binoculars and telescopes, don't they?"

"Yes, they do; why?" said Bella, trying not to sound snippy.

"Because somebody on the other side of the lake has something with lenses that got caught in a flash – I think it was in the reflection of the sun from one of the castle windows 'cos the sun's on the wrong side to normally show them up" said Seth "And if that's not Buckley Cooper checking out the lie of the land I'm a werewolf."

"Good kid" approved Bella "Don't start howling at the moon now! I reckon you're right though; he'll be watching to see where the younger ones are staying – less security than the castle – and preparing to sneak in at night."

"Not all the tents are inside the engulfing line" said Seth, worried.

"Nah, but we put one up that is, on the offchance; and assigned quarters to the Coopers in that" said Bella "See if you can't skank a pair of omnioculars and pick off the creep; actually, hold on; we've got a couple of sniper rifles with telescopic sights, c'mon!"

Bella took Seth down to the chamber of secrets – it was the first time he had been down there though of course he knew about it – and took out a couple of sniper rifles, Lee Enfields, because Sirius preferred to buy British even though it meant buying them from Arabs. There was something that offended the wizarding soul in using Mausers, German weapons, against Odessa. In case they didn't work as well.

It made sense to a wizard even though David Fraser had sighed gently.

Using the telescopic sights through crenellations on the top of Gryffindor Tower – they apparated there – it was easy to pick out Buckley Cooper; and recognise him as similar enough to the father of the other Coopers to be a brother.

"He has NO field craft at all!" said Bella in disgust "Hardly concealed; brightly coloured robes; his arse sticking up for all the world to see; you ruddy weevils know more about it!"

"Those of us in the MSHG anyhow" said Seth "This was the whole point of Professor Fraser teaching soldiering and fieldcraft to the original members, as I recall what I've been told; because wizards DON'T as a whole understand such things!"

"I just kinda dislike seeing things done sloppily" said Bella "Here, young Seth, Telescopes are purely optical devices, aren't they?"

"Well, yes, I guess" said Seth.

"Good-oh; we need Mimi or Lydia; Mimi's one of my lot" said Bella.

There was no more than a faint TIC as Mimi joined them.

"Take Seth's telescope and see if you can't get a glimpse of his eyes" said Bella "To legilimens the little tick."

"Is that possible?" said Mimi.

"'Course it is" said Bella airily "He's only magnified through purely optical means; 'tisn't like Wizarding Wireless Vision or TV you know."

Mimi peered.

"He isn't really looking up enough" she said "Best I can do is tell you he has a savage exultation that he's seen one of the kids and plans to do something when it's dark."

"Near enough" said Bella "What we'll do is to apparate into their room in the tent once they're in there and move Mr and Mrs Cooper, Naomi and Virgil into the castle and a couple of us take their place just in case; though he ought to be engulfed."

Mimi nodded.

"Us elves will move them; nice people and all, but let's not let wholesale people know other people than elves can apparate in a non apparating zone" she said "Polly-wolly-doodle and Kreacher and Dobby can help me out."

Bella nodded. It was a good idea.

oOoOo

There had been some tension between Dobby and Sevvy; Sevvy was Dobby's son, Sirri having had an affair with Dobby soon after being freed in the hopes that another free elf might prove a good mate. Dobby had not wanted that responsibility. He was glad that Sirri was happy with Severus, if a little bemused that she would want to be with a human. Dobby was not sufficiently good at analysing motives to realise that Severus was the only male Sirri had been close to, apart from those who were only children when she joined the Blood Group, who had not let her down, bar her brother and father; and that as Dobby had shown that he did not want responsibility and as Sirri's brother Beloc was something of a player, her choice was really quite obvious. Dobby DID want to get to know his son now the boy was older and less in need of high levels of physical and emotional care; but Sevvy himself was rather wary of his blood father's interests. He got on just fine with his grandmother, Lala, nurse to Lucius' offspring, who had boxed Dobby's ears hard when she found out that he had run out on Sirri; but Dobby he was less sure about.

"Look here, Dobby" said Sevvy "I've only ever known one father in my life; and that's Severus Snape. I'm even named after him because he was there to help me be born and you weren't. You're blood group now; I was born of it because of mummy so we're kin that way, but I'm not sure I want to risk being close to you. I can't be sure you won't run out on me another time if I have heavy problems and want to confide in you and it's more than you can take; like being a father in the first place was more than you could take."

Dobby gazed mournfully at his son with his big elven eyes. He had taken the larger form so could at least look down at the boy.

"Dobby was stupid" he said "Your mother is a fine woman; Dobby panicked. Dobby is very sorry and wants to make up!"

"I wish too that you wouldn't talk like a ruddy slave" said Sevvy "It kinda makes me feel older than you; and that's so wrong on so many levels. I'd LIKE to get to know you better; I'd like to think I could trust you not to let me down."

"Dobby – I – was afraid that having a girlfriend and baby might distract D – me – from devotion to Harry Potter!" Dobby was trying to speak in the first person; being told off about it by his son was hurtful.

"All right; but that meant you left mummy with HAVING to devote herself to a baby on her own" said Sevvy "Daddy took on the care of Mimi and me; and mummy later became his mistress and I'm happy with that. I have three great mums and a great dad. Any man can procreate; it takes a MAN to be a dad. I'll give you the chance to get to know me, but I doubt I can feel much more for you than for any other of the kindred. Like Uncles Sirius and Remus" said Sevvy.

And with that Dobby had to be content.

He was willing enough to help out the Coopers; and suggested Sevvy to help too, as Naomi Cooper would be going to school with the boy; and Mimi, under due consideration, agreed. Older and more tolerant than Sevvy – as well as not being emotionally involved over Dobby himself – she recognised that her brother's father had run out on their mother in sheer terror at being landed with something that would tie him down just as he was getting used to being free; that he saw the whole affair as a form of slavery, a wand-wedding as one might say, what the muggles called a shotgun wedding; and he had balked and backed off. He was too recently free then to take into account that it tied Sirri down even more; especially as one of the functions of female elves was to breed more elves for their masters, and it was not something many male elves thought about. Mimi hoped that Dobby would learn; he had been so busy being devoted to Harry, and Harry too diffident to push him into greater independence that Dobby was less free, in many ways, even than Kreacher had been before accepting freedom with blood brotherhood. Kreacher was stroppier than Dobby. Still, with Malfoys who were nice to Dobby and a desire to please Sevvy, it should help his personal development. Mimi decided to have a quiet word with Lucius; he and Dobby HAD grown up together after all!

oOoOo

The evening saw a concert put on by past and present pupils of Hogwarts; the Weird Sisters sang, and Draco, David and Grace did a Convolvumort sketch; the Broomstick Boys turned out to be better than they sounded – Bella's description – and asked assorted school members to join with them to do the Cauldron Monster Song, crediting Mad and Chad as they introduced it, and announcing – having discussed it with the Mad Marauders – that they would be bringing it out on record, and the proceeds to go to a scholarship to Hogwarts or Prince Peak as seemed appropriate for each pupil chosen. Both Mad and Chad were well enough off to have asked the payment for their song to go to the same and Nils Tenor and Crysochorus – Crys to his pals – Bass thought that a swell idea.

As they were planning on employing Mad and Chad to write more material for them, Bella and her set giggled that their performance ought to improve no end for at least having decent material since their voices weren't bad now Severus had been training them a bit.

Lilith, U-may and the whole of the junior school Marauders did a reprise of their last term's performance where they, in snake form, supposedly charmed their fellows, in human form, out of baskets; matching baskets had been acquired for a public performance and the audience fell about laughing at this role reversal.

Lydia played her flute; and the lower sixth did 'There's a Zombie in my Attic' with Jordan Christie cast as the zombie, turned green, dressed in rags, and with rubber joke hands from muggle joke shops for the verse that required his hands to drop off.

This went down better with the more juvenile elements in the audience than with the adults, though it had some sentimental associations for those who had been youngsters in the sixties when it had first been a hit.

There were other numbers that had been written by the group The Buttons but only such unmemorable things as 'I need a time turner to see you eight days a week' and 'feed me amortentia do' which had not quite worked.

David Fraser led sundry MSHG habitués in a marching demonstration whilst playing 'Black Bear' on the bagpipes, the rest variously on drum and penny whistle and all in kilts, which performance confused the witches and wizards watching as much as its precision impressed them.

Godfrey Goodchild as an old boy impressed the crowd with his virtuosity on harp; and Jade returned to accompany him on her flute, because it was she who had discovered Godfrey and encouraged him; and moreover wheedled music lessons for him out of Lucius as his parents thought only their older twin children worth training. The Goodchild twins had NOT been invited to perform.

Celestina Warbeck HAD been invited – for those who had sentimental memories of her – and scowled at those marauders who stuffed parsley in their ears when she came on.

"They read too much Asterix" said Severus dryly to Molly Weasley, who was most put out.

It was too much for Madam Warbeck that, during the interval she overheard Sevvy and Tarquin teaching their friends the Prince Peak version of her song, 'Cauldron full of hot strong prep' and she stormed out.

As Bella said to Molly, who was upset by this,

"If she's such a shallow little person that she can take a huff over little kids taking the piss, she's not worth knowing. Besides, Jocunda Sykes says she was a silly moo when she was at Hogwarts, and Jocunda Sykes was the first to fly the Atlantic on a broom which is way more memorable than doing banshee impressions with a hot strong wand up her backside, or however the Warbeck woman makes those horrible noises."

Molly was unsure whether to accept that taking a pet over small persons being rude was rather silly or to take exception to Bella's description of Celestina Warbeck's singing and merely said rather coolly that some people admired the singing witch's musical style.

"Yes and some people like crups too; so I suppose there's no accounting for taste" said Bella.

"You'd rather have her tactless and with foot in mouth syndrome than the sly piece HE made her into last time" said Severus smoothly to Molly.

"Well yes, Severus, I suppose I would" said Molly, truthfully. "And I suppose she IS very young still."

oOoOo

The second half of the concert had a second appearance of the Weird Sisters, and since Celestina Warbeck had taken herself off in dudgeon as high as some of her top notes volunteers from the sixth obliged with a lively rendition of 'My Old Man's a Desplincher' with actions. Krait and assorted offspring – Jade, Lydia, Seagh, Mimi and Lilith – had been talked into doing 'Walking in the Air' whilst doing so; a piece of fey magic that left the wizarding world spellbound over a magical skill none of them knew existed let alone knew how to duplicate. It may be said that Ransley Corbin tried to find out from Krait how it was done afterwards; and Krait, who detested him, smiled sweetly and became very technical to an arithmantic and transfigurational level beyond his comprehension. The which was made more irritating to him because he almost understood; and could comprehend enough to know that she was not making up any old rubbish as she went along.

It paid off a few scores over the man having been sanctimonious over Grace being a Corbin after Severus had taken her from her inadequate parents, and trying to use that to smarm around Lucius when Grace married Draco.

Other old pupils gave performances; many less well known to the pupils than such as the Weird Sisters, but enough known as concert performers to older people that they were politely received and the pupils clapped well enough for most and with gusto for the virtuosity on piano of a middle aged-looking vampire who had looked fairly colourless as well as bloodless until he came to play; and the music was almost alive; which was more than the player was, as Charis giggled.

The vampire's name was Marius Lovegood; and he was keen to meet talented song writers in Ravenclaw House like Mad and Chad.

"Don't trust vampires my dear boys" he sighed "It was the mistake I made in my time; I trusted myself to a teacher who was a vampire because his art was great and I believed him when he said he would not harm me. One never MEANS to harm others; but when the blood lust is on one…. He did not kill me; he was fond enough of me for that. But do not ever assume a vampire will not be as readily overcome by the dark nature in him as a werewolf."

"I wonder if there's a cure" said Chad "Severus Snape has cured Lycanthropy."

"The cure for Vampirism is death" said Mr Lovegood. "One's body is dead, the soul bound back into it; a kind of physical ghost. Only I don't want to die."

"Honest enough" said Mad. "I take it that you can get along on blood as blood without having to bite people and transfer the er, effect?"

"Yes; and sometimes it is hard" said Mr Lovegood "I am fortunate to have a fan base who let out blood on a rota for me, whilst taking blood replenishing potions."

"Muggles store blood" said Chad "They don't have blood replenishing potions so they have to put actual blood into people if they are wounded and have lost a lot."

"They use blood magic?" Mr Lovegood was interested.

"No" said Chad "There's no magical ritual involved; and the blood has to be matched carefully or the patient dies; because there are four different groups of blood. With blood magic that doesn't matter. But they do have it stored; if you need blood. We can't offer you any; because we ARE part of a blood magic pact and I don't think we really want a vampire as part of it; we had to wait until the odd werewolf we know were cured to invite them in."

"And you have no ill effects? A better and less bitter blood magic than that of vampirism then" said Lovegood "Since the vampire who is made is the effective servant – slave even – of his maker. By blood bond; like elves. Because the one who makes, rather than draining utterly, gives back of his own blood binding the new vampire to him."

"That's fascinating!" said Chad. "A little basic in nature but I see the idea. Excuse me; we're wanted" as he felt an excited blood pulse from Bella.

oOoOo

The Belle Marauders had been to check their oubliette – more in hope than expectation – and had Buckley Cooper in it, in evening robes.

"Looks like he was coming to the concert to see what he could spy – and to use the press of people too" said Isabel.

"He does look sore!" giggled Drusillina.

"Do we leave him there overnight or ask Albus to hand him over to Draco now?" asked Maud.

"Oh he won't hurt left there overnight; it's an anti-apparating zone, you have running water in there so he won't die of thirst and he can cool his heels a bit to soften him up" said Mad.

Buckley Cooper was furious; he was pacing up and down, examining walls, looking for windows or any way out. The illumination was provided by a bulb with _lumos_ cast upon it and enchanted to permanency; it hung from the ceiling not far from the artistically made skeleton that hung in chains from the top of the wall. The floor and ceiling both appeared to be corbel built, meaning that the floor rose to a high point in the middle so the gargoyle running with water on one wall dribbled into the outer reaches of the circular room like a gutter, the drain being at some distance, purely to give an impression of dank and nasty, as the Belle Marauders had explained to anyone who asked when they set the oubliette up. Being purely in wizarding space, it was impossible to enter or exit save by elf-style apparation; and the Belle Marauders were extremely pleased with themselves that their secret place was so much more sophisticated then Tom Riddle's; and the only thing that spoiled their enjoyment of that was that he could not know that he ought to be grinding his teeth in frustration at their virtuosity!

Buckley Cooper was grinding his teeth in frustration but was not concerned by the virtuosity of the girls' ingenuity; which as Mimi said snippily he was way too limited to appreciate anyway.

They left him to not enjoy himself; and took themselves off to bed. It had, after all, been a long day with the terrible stress – as Bella described it – of having to listen to Celestina Warbeck without being allowed to use any defensive charms against her dark music.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"Either one of those teams of kids is better than the Falmouth Falcons" muttered a tall goblin as Ravenclaw and Slytherin first house teams played a demonstration match. "Merlin's toenails, look at that goblin boy fly! And that little redhead as keeper! And isn't that Eunice Murray's nephew on the other team? What verve!"

Gorbrin was enjoying himself; this match was of no account to the yearly shield and he might do his best without there being any pressure; and playing a friendly competition against Jack Murray was great! They were on good terms now and their love of quidditch a bond.

It would be a tough match; Sampta Patil was flying better now she was not trying to compete with the whole world, a better team mate with her fellow chasers, Mad and Chad. Nathan, Zajala and Phil Burke were flying well together too; the Burke boys tended to spend most of the holidays at Malfoy Manor and Zajala and Nathan always liked to please their big brother; and they easily eluded Ravenclaw's beaters, Xanthia Fawcett and Ferdinand Belby, two who had been caught in the Riddle riddle jape; and they trying to sabotage Slytherin – and put off Gorbrin – by attacking Zajala. Gorbrin knew his little sister was good enough to avoid damage, and besides Mel had half an eye on them, as one of Slytherin's own beaters; and she and Bryony Urquart were playing very well to try to disconcert the Ravenclaw chasers. Emerald Cherrytree was a good Keeper for Ravenclaw, but not as good as the diminutive figure of Lilith Snape on the Slytherin team who astounded all the spectators with her lithe antics. Lilith had learned to broomsurf long since; and the sight of her standing up on her broom to knock the quaffle away, often enough leaping into the air and landing with some kind of gymnastic move to avoid landing too hard on her broom or missing it and falling to the ground had gasps running around the spectators. Lilith had learned gymnastics from Willow who had learned formally when living with her muggle grandparents; and she treated her broom like the beam; and occasionally like the asymmetric bars when once she came down from a leap outside the narrow scope of the broom, caught it and swung round once, kicking the quaffle away again as she did so, did a Katchev, and twisted it sideways to land astride her broom again.

It delighted the crowd.

Gorbrin could not resist a little showing off himself; and mounted his own broom to broomsurf as he pursued the snitch.

Out in the crowd, Damian Malfoy was saying to amazed spectators,

"Oh, it's a keeper thing; Abraxus and Hawke started it off. It can be handy for seekers too; gives you more reach of course. Nobody broomsurfs like Abraxus Malfoy though."

Sampta Patil did not mind Lilith's antics any more; not since the little girl had grinned cheerily and said that it was compensation for being so short, when a keeper did ought to be lanky. And it was undeniable that Lilith was no taller than a ten-year-old goblin; and when not playing Slytherin, Sampta had to admit that the child's gymnastic moves were a delight to watch, and she was planning on asking Lilith if she would teach her how to do some of them.

oOoOo

Buckley Cooper had been removed from his oubliette by this time.

Draco had apported into the cell; and Cooper, taken aback but not diminished in quick thinking had promptly tried to apparate out, assuming that the anti-apparating zone had been lowered to permit Draco in.

He had bounced and suffered that rare but uncomfortable condition of a failed-move splinch.

Draco had put his legs back onto his hips, removing his arms from the pelvis to do so and replacing them at the shoulder.

"Naughty" he said "Inefficient black wizards didn't ought to play with magic they don't understand."

Buckley was in a cell awaiting trial; still wondering how Draco opened and closed the school anti-apparating zone at will; and indeed how he had ended up in the oubliette in the first place, and totally refusing to accept the explanation Draco had given that some of his nieces' and nephews' friends got pissed at the idea of him lousing up their celebrations and set up a trap for him.

The idea that adolescents could do something on that level was insupportable – since Buckley himself had not got a clue how it was done, or even, really WHAT had been done! And his indignation was in no wise assuaged by Draco laughing and telling him he should have studied Arithmancy.

And he was also fuming over a letter Draco handed him, written by Niobe, that read:

"Dear Uncle Buckley, thank you for trying to entertain us by playing at being a dark wizard for the celebrations but I'm afraid you just don't hack it. I'm afraid you wouldn't even have made it to be a deatheater. And the cursed dolly was awfully amateurish. Hope you didn't like the frogs us first years sent you. Please have a nasty time; your not very loving niece Niobe."

oOoOo

The quidditch match meanwhile went on into the afternoon; and was standing pat as far as scores were concerned when Jack and Gorbrin both saw the snitch at once; and headed for it.

There was no point either pulling the Wronski feint; though both had tried it earlier on general principles and to show off that they could do it; neither one could be fooled. It was a question of speed. Gorbrin looked at Jack; Jack looked at Gorbrin.

It had happened before.

They both reached; Gorbrin's hand touched Murray's before it touched the snitch; then in common consent they both closed their fingers with an accord almost as close as if they had been blood kin.

Love of quidditch made them want to give a good display; neither wanted to lose; and each wanted to show how skilled was the other. The joint capture of the snitch demonstrated graphically how closely matched their teams were; as indeed they were closely matched.

The crowd went wild.

Gorbrin and Jack shook hands; and handed the snitch to David Fraser, officiating as an international referee.

"Excellent game; very sportsmanlike" enthused David "Certain beaters despite! I wish half the international scene had as much sportsmanship!"

Dunbar Oglethorpe, chief of Q.U.A.B.B.L.E. came over,

"Mr Murray, well played; Mr Malfoy too, of course, but may I say, Mr Murray, how pleased I am that you've learned such a good attitude!"

Jack flushed.

"I was a silly spoilt little boy when I wrote to you sir" he said "I wised up and grew up; Gorbrin and me are friends now. And rivals on the pitch!" he added laughing. "I think I'd have tried to sucker him a bit - as he would me – if this had been a real match. But it pleased the crowd I think; which was what we hoped."

"I hope you didn't decide this before hand?" said Mr Oglethorpe.

"Certainly not, sir!" said Gorbrin "It just seemed kind of right as we both went for it; it was a spur of the minute thing, like we both knew what would be most cool."

"It was a nice move" Draco's voice cut in "Harry's jumping up and down and hoping to see both of you for the post match tea; glad I got back in time to see most of your high jinks!"

"Git's in gaol?" asked Gorbrin.

"And sweating!" laughed Draco. "No dark wizards left to spoil our special time; come on you two, there's sticky things with cream and indigestible pastry from Austria and Harry wants to shake your hands!"

Gorbrin knew Harry well enough of course; even before joining the blood group, Harry was his brother's friend. But for Jack Murray it was an unforgettable experience!

oOoOo

The spectators at the quidditch match were prime targets for traders.

Certain trading licences had been issued by Dumbledore for the sale of sanctioned souvenirs; it was acknowledged that trippers would want something to remind them of the experience and numberless items were on sale.

Not all the items on sale WERE sanctioned and nor were all the vendors licensed. Lydia led prefects in checking the licences as issued by Albus and ran off several illegal traders with unlicensed Harry Potter dolls, locks of hair encased in crystal said to be from Tom Riddle himself – which as he was hairless at the time of his death ought to have been a dead giveaway, as Mad pointed out scornfully – and even melodramatic histories bound with what was said to be the skin from Deatheater forearms bearing the Dark Mark.

That trader got turned into a woodlouse and was left wriggling until he was arrested.

Lilith too amused herself amongst the more spurious traders, listening to their sales patter and growing their noses an inch at a time with each untrue claim. It amused her and hurt nobody – except the spurious traders – so the prefects left her to it and merely sent word to the aurors that anyone with an overly long nose could probably bear investigation.

Signed photographs of the main protagonists were also popular collection items, and the original team did a roaring trade – proceeds for the scholarship fund – with the sale of the same on the SCHOOL stall. Harry had also donated his school tie and scarf and – with an impish grin – one of his early potioneering essays with Severus' vocabulary at full blast in red ink on it to be auctioned; and that added a great deal to the fund too. Lydia had queried whether the essay might be used ritually, and Harry said that this was why it was one from the time before he and Severus saw eye to eye; because as they were neither of them the same person any more, it was not a very certain ritual item at all, except to the best and they were all called Snape or Malfoy and were friends. Lydia conceded this.

oOoOo

The evening was given over to dancing; the quidditch pitch had its grass transfigured into boards, and magical lights swayed gently in the breeze from the rings of the goals. Most of the school preferred not to turn up for such a thing as a dance – to the minds of most of them, one dance at Yule was one dance too many a year – but many stayed on. It was the only chance most of the visitors would ever have of seeing the personages of the wizarding world close to; and they longed to take it. Lucius was at his most affable, cheerfully talking to all and sundry, unconcerned by vulgarity or uneducated accents; as eager to meet as to be met, because this was an unparalleled opportunity to hear the views of a random selection of ordinary wizards and goblins, and an equal opportunity to be met and approved for his willingness to listen. Lucius was ever the consummate politician; and he enjoyed the game of politics as much as he enthusiastically grasped the opportunity to make improvements. His wives too moved amongst people chatting, dancing and impressing the crowd with 'wot loverly lydies' they were. It was a situation which had its own dangers of course; and Tanjela was glad Finn was watching suspiciously the man she was dancing with, when the fellow hissed

"Die, Goblin bitch!" and pulled a knife to try to thrust into Tanjela's side. Finn was at Tanjela's side grabbing the man's wrist and biting it; then Lucius was there, and with hardly any fuss the fellow was handed over to security trolls to be detained until he might be questioned in the morning.

Tanjela clung to Lucius, almost sobbing, her co-wives clustering protectively around her.

"He – I never met him before, I'm certain!" she gasped "Why did he so HATE me?"

Lucius cupped her chin.

"Because, my darling, he is so limited that if a goblin once did him an ill turn he sees that goblin in all goblins; and resents especially a wealthy, happy one" he said. "Mark my words, that's all there is to it. Either that" he gave a crooked grin "Or it's a plot to hurt ME; and the racist epithet only a cover."

"Come, dear" said Narcissa "Dance with Lucius; then pick another partner. Malfoys are NOT intimidated."

Tanjela put up her chin.

"Of course not, Narcissa dear" she said "We are stronger than that. Lucius, we dance? You have not yet danced with any of your wives; time to take each of us onto the dance floor" and she smiled bravely at him; and gratefully at Finn who was heavily pregnant.

"I'll pass dancing I think" said Finn "You can snog me later though if you like Lucius."

Lucius laughed.

"I'm glad you weren't dancing earlier, love" he said seriously "And saw that in time."

oOoOo

Draco slipped off the dance floor to catch up with the prisoner.

"You and I are going to discuss why you tried to kill my mother" said Draco. The man stared.

"How can you call that filthy gobbo bitch your mother? She ain't your mother, your mother is a pure bred witch!"

"I have four mothers" said Draco coldly "None of whom are filthy nor indeed bitches; it's my birth mother's Black family cousins who go for the animagus form. What has my mother ever done to you that you should attack her? I can't see that she'd ever have met you but I'll listen to mitigation."

"All them gobbos take the jobs of honest men and she's the worst because she's no more than a whore!" hissed the man "And I'll not testify because I already took poison!"

Draco passed his wand over the man's body.

"_accio_ level four antidote" he murmured "That should handle everything. You forget; I'm a very competent potioneer, I know exactly what I need; and I don't even need to go as far as a bezoar. Ah here we are" as a flask winged its way to his hand "I knew Connie Hardbroom would have some of this on hand" and he forced the man to drink. He regarded Draco with a flat, unfriendly gaze. Draco smiled. It was not an entirely pleasant smile. Meeting his eyes defiantly gave him the opportunity to legilimens the man; and to discover that he belonged to a lower middle-class society dedicated to returning Goblins to what they considered a proper place in society, their idea of that being little better than servitude. Draco got out his notebook and wrote down names, places and specifics.

"Sad" he murmured "We fought Voldemort to be free; then sad little gits like you and your friends come along within the decade to undo all we fought for. You and your deatheater type friends will soon be rounded up."

"We ain't deatheaters! Mr Malfoy we wants to rescue you from the yoke of goblin interference what's spoiling things for everyone!" cried the prisoner.

"Well if you think that, you're fooling nobody but your bloody self" said Draco "There's work aplenty for everyone; and persecuting people IS a deatheater type thing. Goblins bled for Harry Potter too; and other goblins pledged support to fight for him. And if you think it's right to enslave a type of people, where does it end? Goblins? Muggles? Muggleborn? Halfbloods? Those who didn't go to Hogwarts? Those without OWLs? How many OWLs do you have? Three? Four? In your young day there were less scholarships – but for the truly talented there were some. My dad works hard to provide ten scholarships to Hogwarts. For any race that can prove they deserve it. And his workers put in harder work because they know he'll also fund any particularly bright kids they have. Whatever their race. He employs the locals in any place he owns factories; regardless of whether they are human, goblin or a mix. Alas, I don't think I'm getting through to you; but I had to try; even as Harry tried to get Voldemort to repent before he killed him. And don't say it's not the same because it is; Voldemort was Voldemort because he was a nasty, petty-minded little creep who resented his part muggle blood and his poverty and wanted to make everyone scared of him. You're afraid of your position because you know you haven't the brains, balls or ability to work to keep it and there's a clever goblin underling likely to be promoted over you; and you know deep down it's your own inadequacy. So you're the same as Voldemort; trying to hide your own inadequacies by attacking others. You're pathetic."

And he walked away.

He pulsed Harry and Tonks and they collected Alastor, Kingsley and a couple of others to go and pick up the others of this creature's ilk before they learned of his failed attempt and arrest.

It was quite sickening; and Draco was angry.

"Will it EVER stop that people turn on others to make themselves seem bigger?" he said to Harry.

Harry pulled a face.

"Probably not, Draco; but that's what we're here for. To step on them before they get away with it."

oOoOo

Most people at the dance were unaware that anything had happened; it had been dealt with so smoothly that few even noticed a disturbance. And Tanjela was soon mostly back to normal, perhaps a little wary but also aware that Finn was watching her – and indeed Charlotte and Narcissa – like a hawk.

It would be reported that a group of would-be deatheaters had chosen to make a gesture of defiance against law and order at the Celebration Ball by attacking Madam Malfoy.

It would NOT be reported which one. The reporters there – and there were plenty – had missed the main action as much as anyone else; and one could not tell from the demeanour of any of the Madams Malfoy who had been attacked; at least, certainly not unless anyone knew before-hand that one had been, in order to go fishing and trying to find out. The press of crowds was in this instance a means to increase privacy; not decrease it!

oOoOo

The majority of the visitors were more troubled by the muggle car that drove across the moor towards the dance ground. There were little cries of horror and the music stopped.

"There is no need for concern" said Albus, using a sonorous spell "This is a muggle who knows; his daughter attended Hogwarts. Pray continue with the celebrations" and he went to meet Archie Trumball's landrover.

Archie jumped out.

"Ah've a pair o' young hooligans o' yours in the back" he said "Duelling wi' wands in the street, cool as ye please! Weel, ah incapacitated them and hae brocht them tae you fer action."

"How did you manage that, Archie?" asked Dumbledore.

"Weel, Albus, ye ken Ah have a tranquiliser gun tae deal wi' deer and the like… they aye hae darts in their arses and are sleeping it off the noo" said Archie.

Albus chuckled.

"Well well! Let me see these precious pair!" he said, following Archie to the back of the landrover and looking in. "Dear me; they're none of mine; they must have come up with the other celebrants. They're not free school pupils either. Well, I shall hand them over to our authorities to deal with; entertaining muggles with duels indeed! Do I need to confund anyone?"

Archie grinned.

"Forebye, I'm thinking ye'll find that a' the folk in Cambernath hae a muckle fair idea wha's the subjects taught in the school; syne I heard ane o' ma villagers speirin' tae anithier that 'tis only twa young limbs frae the magic castle."

"I see" said Albus. "Well, as I retire at the end of this year, I shall have a chance to come and meet some of your neighbours more often; and see how much I need to cover this all up. I doubt you have enough tourists to make it likely that any would do more than put such talk down to the good whisky and a firm belief in the fey folk."

"So Ah'm thinking too" said Archie serenely "Any grub going?"

Albus laughed.

"You're welcome to join the party; I did send you an invitation."

"Aye; but Ah'm on duty. Only being here, it seems a shame tae no' say hello tae folks…. Do I ken wha's replacing you?"

"Indeed yes; David Fraser."

"David Fraser? Weel, weel! It scarcely seems yesterday that he was just a wee bittie laddie, showing ma Alice aroond; but then, here's me a granddad three times over! Ah'll pay ma respects tae cousin Lucius and tae Hagrid and David then if Ah may and back tae ma beat in case ye lose ony more revellers the noo!"

oOoOo

Revellers retreated in shifts starting with a late train for those who did not want to pay to stay another night – and for those who were day trippers – and continuing the following morning in a steady stream by helicopter, train and personal forms of conveyance. Lucius departed with his wives and younger children in the powder blue helicopter with its Malfoy monogram on the door piloted by Dudley, who had received his own share of being lionised as the Muggle Who Dared. Dudley said cynically that this was because at least half of them hoped for an invitation to meet his famous cousin Harry Potter and the other half consisted of those who had never met a muggle and wanted to count how many legs and arms he had and to see if he could hold a conversation without grunting like a Mountain Troll.

He was not totally fair; but Lucius laughed and agreed that doubtless he had some of the right of it.

They departed cheerfully enough, Tanjela having brightened up enough to murmur something about he who never made enemies never made anything; and that if she stood in the minds of goblin haters as goblin success then she should stand as such for goblins too; even if their son's intended career as an Auror was rather more evidence of success than merely falling for a powerful man and living with him.

Lucius laughed.

"Oh but in the mean time you're a symbol of glamorous goblinkind; someone that goblin girls can look up to and emulate" he said "Not all goblins would want to be aurors – any more than most humans do. It's a dangerous profession that only the best of the best go after. And so GORBRIN is scarcely taking a job from a human, as Draco says this fool who attacked you believed; because there's few enough who'll volunteer for such a job. My dear, we are all in the public eye; and how we act defines how it is proper to act. And when the reporters flock at you – as they will – I suggest you take the mildly puzzled tone that you really cannot understand what this poor disturbed fellow was getting at. Let him be seen to be as small as he is."

Tanjela nodded.

"I will" she said "I find it hard enough to follow his reasoning anyway."

"That's because you're rational and intelligent my dear" said Narcissa.

oOoOo

Once the last member of public had been shoo'd into some kind of public transport, and the last celebrity had been poured into their personal conveyance, the job of clearing up might be tackled. The elves of Hogwarts worked with a will and summarily banished all those volunteers from amongst the schoolchildren who were eager enough but generally more hindrance than help.

The youngest marauders were permitted to carry tents away; and that was it.

Cleaning spells and vanishing spells soon had grounds and castle spick and span again; and school might then restart for the new term in earnest, with only the distraction of the various souvenirs of the event that various stallholders – with and without licences – had sold. Commemorative mugs, signed photos and collectable figures featured amongst the most popular items; also small grooming kits with the dark mark on their cases, coloured guide books of the exhibition – produced by the school, printed by Malfoy Publications and sanctioned works – and other books of more or less dubious background down to and including the 'Would-be dictator's guide to Dark Magic and Poisoning' produced by an enterprising goblin with rules for a would-be dictator that ran along the following lines:

never try to kill babies; they bounce

try not to do the sort of magic that leaves you looking repulsive; it's less sexy

don't piss off Dumbledore

have a voice trainer in to work on your dulcet tones

hire a street kid no older than twelve to tell you how your plans are going to be foiled by Hogwarts kids.

The whole was hilarious and included concoctions to cause vomiting or diarrhoea as its poisons and had a number of amusing jinxes and hexes that qualified more for the Weasleys' joke shop than dark magic.

Lydia had told the vendor that if he felt inclined to pay for a licence she had power to sanction him and suggested that he apply to Fred and George for a job extending their range into spoof books and collections of jokes.

His product had been extremely popular and a number of copies were on order from a second print run.

It may be noted that a second edition came out, under the auspices of Fred and George, glossier and extended; which most purchasers of the original also bought. The originals were to become collectors' items themselves in later years because of their relative fragility; and the tendency of some more thoughtless youngsters to throw away the originals once they had a glossy version.

It might also be noted that at the time the new edition came out, Lilith directed elves to collect all old copies from waste bins and stored them away as an investment. Being wealthy now need not stop one's sense of turning a profit where one might; and it would all add to scholarship funds.

oOoOo

Lilith was generally unimpressed by the various gee-gaws bought by her schoolfellows, save the few that should be kept pristine for a school museum; which she and the other Marauders suggested, using the Riddle display as one of its sections. It was important to keep history alive to avoid its mistakes, and she suggested that an extension in wizarding space called the 'Albus Dumbledore School Museum' would also be a nice tribute to the headmaster. The gee-gaws bought by marauders were therefore generally for subsequent display; and Lilith and friends also ransacked Argus Filch's collection of newspapers that he used to put down for painting or for soaking up muddy drops from wet quidditch players. As he took what he needed off the top there were papers at the bottom of the pile going back a goodly way, some of which came from the time when Harry was being ridiculed. Mounting up a page from one of these next to one praising him as The Boy Who Lived with the dates only weeks apart was a nice irony.

Marauders were also busily setting up other wings to the museum of other periods; starting with all that was known of the four founders. They acquired a plain goblet, a plain locket and a basic sword to make replicas of the treasures; since they already had a replica of the Ravenclaw diadem as used to catch the dafter members of the house when the Mad Marauders had themselves been in the middle school. Lydia had no need to use the Slytherin Locket to copy it; she saw it round Krait's neck every holidays, and Krait had taken it back with her, as well as giving the Peverell ring to Salazar with strict instructions about how to use the resurrection stone and a strong recommendation that he should not do so.

"Just in case anyone finds out about it and tries, what would it do about our father?" Salazar had asked.

"Let's just say as he rests more in pieces than in peace he's not likely to return whole" said Krait. "TRY to rise above any personal curiosity you have on the subject; because if you DO succeed in resurrecting one of his eighths you'll have me to deal with and believe me, you'd rather have our aberrant parent to deal with."

Salazar believed her!

Photographs of the items used by Riddle for horcruces took the place of the real items in the museum; replicas of them would also be made in due course.

And it was not to be the greater part of the museum at that.

Dusty, long-forgotten paintings were questioned about the school as they had known it; and the merry monks were firmly sobered up – Erica threatened to paint out their wine barrel and press – and produced enough information of the school's early days that Erica was able to produce sketches of approximate likenesses of the four founders, that she added to by asking the oldest ghosts, the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady. The Grey Lady got huffy and declared that her mother was not as good looking as she even if she was cleverer; from which might be gleaned that she was Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter.

The younger Marauders lost interest briefly in the midst of this more tedious detection and took time out to hold a competition, without resort to transfiguration or farmyard saxophones, to cluck 'Born to be Wild'.

Jayashree declared initially that she could purr it but declined to make the noises of prey; at least until everyone else had had a go, when she could not resist joining in too.

Lilith recorded the clucking with her wand; then recorded them singing the words, and combined the two. They proceeded to draw some very dissipated looking cartoon chickens on a Harley-Davidson, animated them, and added the music, and with a nice twist of the Protean Charm – which was a NEWT level spell – transferred the animation into a glass globe that played the animation and its sound track when shaken.

It was a gift for Albus Dumbledore; and had him chuckling with glee when they ran up to his office to give it to him, because it was a just because gift, as Lilith explained, not a leaving gift.

"Bless my soul!" said Albus "Dear me! What a delightful thing! I shall use it as a paperweight and shake it whenever I could do with a good laugh!"

"That was the general idea, sir" said Lilith.

Albus received another gift the next morning when Lydia rose and announced at breakfast that the Marauders and sundry others would like the Headmaster to formally open something.

They led Albus to the library and to the archway over the wizarding wall marked 'Museum' where a red ribbon symbolically held back progress; and Albus said

"Bless my soul!" again.

"Sir, you have given much to this school, not least the fact that we HAVE a history continuing to the present because of your efforts against Tom Riddle and Odessa too" said Lydia "And we wanted to acknowledge that by presenting the school with our collective efforts, and many thanks too to the portraits and ghosts, and family tradition of those elves whose families have long served Hogwarts. This is the Albus Dumbledore School Museum and we hope you enjoy it."

"Bless my soul! I am quite lost for words!" said Albus.

"That'll be a first then sir!" quipped Mad.

Albus chuckled; and toured the museum, followed by hordes of curious students.

"An excellent effort; a very excellent effort; I am moved and touched and very impressed" said Albus.

And he was; though secretly he suspected he was going to enjoy the gift of the Stripy Marauders more!


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

After the Museum was opened, the upper Sixth and the fifth settled down in earnest to their last minute revision as the exams would soon be upon them; and some of the fifth were being quite hysterical about it.

It was largely the Ravenclaws, especially those who had been conned by the Riddle riddle jape, who were declaring that their lives were ended and that they had been fooled into wasting time they should have spent revising. Xanthia Fawcett was the loudest and Norman Whyteley of Hufflepuff asked her if it was the spirit of Amos Leroy's awful behaviour or merely a dementor that had possessed her. Norman was usually an amiable boy but enough was enough.

"Xanthia's a drama queen" said Sampta Patil "She's using the jape we were all caught by as a good excuse in case she isn't as good as she thinks she is; I say, we were caught; our bad; and frankly I for one learned enough about ancient runes doing it that I now regret not having taken it as an elective because it's actually rather interesting, so no pain without some gain. If I muck up the exams it's my own fault and I accept that; only I'm not wasting yet more time by having hysterics, shut up Xanthia; some of us want to work."

Xanthia had such full blown hysterics at this point that Bella decided that only Madam Pomfrey could sort her out and ran for the school nurse; and Xanthia spent several days in the hospital wing under glumbumble juice.

"Daft half-knut" Opined Bella to her group and Mafalda. "Hey, we'd have had you having nightmares and meeping too, Maf, if we hadn't asked Padfoot and Albus to lean heavily on your parents."

"And I'm extremely grateful" said Mafalda, who was still ambitious but who had lightened up a lot over the past few years. "And glad I am to have Marauders around me that I smelled a rather ripe and high rat over the crap those kids were spreading about the Tom Riddle letter."

"Well you're a Slytherin; more than two brain cells to rub together" said Bella. For which comment she was well poked by Maud and Isabel!

Fortunately none of the upper sixth seemed in any wise likely to succumb to hysterics; but then, as Chad said, this was because the most excitable members of the year were he and Mad, and they were far too sensible to succumb to silly fits since it interfered with constructive marauding. It may be said that the shattered nerves of sundry of the fifth were not, however, helped by the constructive marauding of Mad and Chad 'cheering up' their own house's OWL candidates by serenading them on fart organs to the tune of 'My Old Man's a De-splincher'.

Ming Chang joined in, singing,

"_My old man's a de-splincher _

_He wears a ministry hat_

_He picks up people's bits from this _

_And other bits from that._

He goes around the countryside

In his ministry suit

When someone asked him 'gi's a hand'

He handed him a foot!"

Somehow the fifth year Ravenclaws – apart from Avice, Venilia and Jack Murray – did not appreciate it, though Sampta managed a wan smile and said,

"Thanks, but somehow it doesn't make it any better."

"Well kudos to you for recognising our good will anyhow" said Mad "Best of luck old thing!"

oOoOo

NEWTs came first; and this was the first year of the metalworking NEWT. Lydia and Leo were the only two students taking it, and had prepared their special pieces carefully over the previous two years. Leo, preparing to fight dark wizards, and wanting to have physical backup to that, had crafted a mechanical lion that would attack on command, or guard as required, that by using the coefficient of magical expansion shrank to a mere statuette on command, when it became inert. Leo was rather pleased with it. Lydia had taken the design of a muggle hand-cranked sewing machine and did a lot of internet research into the different types of foot that could be put on to make different effects, and made her foot into a morphing thing that went beyond the ingenuity of Victorian engineers – for having the ability of magic as well – to roll and hem a seam, sew a buttonhole and use an interlock stitch on raw edges. She refined on her design over the course, adding the ability to do embroidery, with more than one needle able to descend magically to use more than one colour at once. Naturally all the needles had threading charms; indeed the machine was entirely self threading, and the bobbin shouted when it was running low on thread. Lydia liked to sew, as Krait had encouraged her, but did not see why some of the more tedious work should not be made easier. The written exam was also early, and Leo and Lydia were glad to get one under their belts as soon as possible.

The Arithmancy of the coefficient of magical expansion was one of the subjects touched upon here, an essay explaining its variables. Both wrote about the properties of the semi-metal Vanadium, the twenty-third element by molecular mass as determined by muggles and holding the properties of that magical prime number; which piece of information had come past the examiner by the OWL piece presented by Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak that should really have been a NEWT level item; and to see that confirmed by these first NEWT students gave the examiner considerable respect for Professor Jorbal, whom he had not previously considered a more than competent artificer.

It had been Gorbrin's research allied with Lilith's investigations into the number that had uncovered the significance of Vanadium; but Jorbal had been willing to expand his knowledge rather than sticking only to what he knew; which his students considered a sign of greatness.

There were also questions on the production of goblin silver, and goblin steel, separate items though few wizards actually knew this and referred to all magical metals as goblin silver. Generally both involved the technologically impossible alloy of silver and steel, with the proportions of three parts silver to one part steel for goblin silver; and the proportions reversed for goblin steel. With the application of magical alloying techniques they became two separate but similar appearing metals and might just as well have been called mithril by most wizards, as Lydia said. The silver made a basis for decorative silver that took magical enchantment more easily and never tarnished; the goblin steel was used for armour and weapons. Leo had considered making his mechanical lion as armour that would transform as he did into his animagus form, since although he was still growing, he could build a form changing charm into the armour so it continued to fit exactly; but somehow the idea of needing armour was rather an archaic one, and Leo reckoned that kevlar was less conspicuous anyhow even if not quite as efficient.

Their final, long essay was on the best time to add enchantments to items during the manufacture; and Lydia wrote happily that one might well prepare an item to take subsequent enchantment but that it was best to add the same at the manufacturing stage, having prepared the piece to take the enchantment more readily whilst alloying the metals using chanting and arithmantic preparation; and that the use of runic addenda to the design could also enhance a piece. Lydia enjoyed the exam, though she knew she was unlikely to have done as well as Leo who had an instinctive feeling for the subject. But then, she had done better than him in the NEWT they already both had, in chanting, taken in their OWL year. Different people had different specialities. If she did as well with the NEWT as she had with the OWL – she had got an 'E' – she might teach the beginning of metalwork after marrying Viktor, until Ming Chang had both left school and felt ready to teach at Prince Peak.

oOoOo

Potions was next; and from next year it would be possible to prepare a lengthy potion of the student's choice from a list of those considered suitable – or negotiated with the examination board – to show a greater virtuosity. This year was however still under the old format and saw the return of the Draught of Living Death. There was not a Marauder who did not follow Severus' improvements to the standard potion, crushing their sopophorous beans with the back of their knives and adding a clockwise stir every seventh counter clockwise one. The blue steam that rose from each cauldron was soothingly similar and the dark blackberry purple potions lightened to a delicate lilac. And as Connie Hardbroom had queried the changes and found them to come from her talented nephew she dictated the same changes to those who cared to take them down in their notes, so much of the class was doing likewise; save those who were suspicious of things not printed in books or who had written them in class notes rather than into their text books and had promptly forgotten them. The former was Daphne Spikenard and another Ravenclaw girl and the latter Leonard Baddock, none of whom were amongst Connie's more talented pupils anyway; though the class was moderately large since nobody was utterly hopeless at potions, even Theo Weasley, and the less talented had picked it as a class in which a hard worker could pick up extra marks more easily than say Charms or Transfigurations; and might hope thereby to scrape an 'E'.

All the Marauders hoped for 'O' grades, even Polly, who had taken 'E' at OWL; for she had worked hard. And as the first free house elf at Hogwarts and the first elf to be taking NEWTs she was particularly keen on doing well, for her parents, in the memory of Madam Kirrin who had freed her parents so she might be born free, and for those who had faith in including elves. And too, for the rejuvenated Kreacher, who was courting the pretty elf. Polly was taking four NEWTs, a good number by anyone's standards; which would give her five over all with the NEWT she had already gained in chanting.

The written exam covered standard questions on Golapott; and a large section showing the Malfoy lines of a number of potions as displayed by Scarpin's revellaspell which the candidates had to identify as well as saying what, if anything, was wrong with them. This was a nice little question, Lydia thought, and something of a challenge; and a bit of a trick question too since not all the potions had anything wrong with them. Indeed the Elixir to Induce Euphoria had something very right to it, containing as it did the improvement Severus had made, of peppermint. Lydia noted this, and being her father's daughter, referenced the copy of 'Transactions of the Learned Society of Potioneers' in which he had published the improvement. For the failed batch of Felix Felicis she quoted the unpleasant consequences of recklessly unfounded belief in one's own abilities; and she remarked that the amortentia was unfortunately quite perfectly brewed. The strengthening solution had skimped on Re'em blood and would not be totally efficacious; and the Wiggenweld potion had been brewed by someone Lydia castigated as stupid enough not to check his sources since there was no unicorn horn and the substitute she could not identify beyond the fact that it was unlikely to be Xenophilus Lovegood's crumple-horned snorcrack but was, so far as she might guess, some kind of ivory.

The so-called unicorn horn used to flummox students was in fact narwhal horn; and as a matter of interest only Lydia came close to guessing what it was, for recognising the nature of the modified tooth.

oOoOo

Arithmancy involved Lydia, Mad and Chad of the marauders and their friend Lalita, so happy to have done well enough to be taking four NEWTs and hoping to teach alongside her brother when he married Bella and started a school in India.

The standard questions involving ideal times and orientations to break curses and the numbers of wizards involved was fairly straightforward; and Lydia and Chad pointed out laconically that the number of wizards depended on their skill with chanting since in each of the examples given only one would be required providing they undertook an optimal chant arithmantically calculated; and proceeded to give the calculations. Mad decided not to cloud the issue beyond noting that chanting might enhance the arithmantic effect and Lalita knew too little about chanting to comment. There were other questions on Waffling logic, what muggles called Boolean Algebra, with examples to unravel; and the final long question. Hitherto for a number of years it had been introduced by the ominous word 'Explain'; no less ominous was the word 'Where?'.

It was a calculation involving terms of pi and i3 used in a tough integral of apportation. It required the use of spherical trigonometry as well as solving the integral; at least a comment at the bottom mentioned – as Lydia at least had already worked out – that the starting point was Hogwarts school.

Lydia worked out her coordinates and wrote them down and added the comment that she believed that this was somewhere in India on the Bay of Bengal probably in the north.

Lalita had worked out the apportation route home before now as a matter of interest and found to her relief that the answer was not horrendously far away; and so wrote down the coordinates and 'the right hand side of India' not being sure to any closer than that.

Chad and Mad came as close as Lalita guessing Eastern India ; Mad suggested Calcutta and Chad wrote absently,

"We Sikh him here we Sikh him there

we Sikh that tiger every where

Is he in the Benares Basin

That demmed elusive striped sensation?"

When he confessed to the rhyme after the exam, Lalita poked him.

oOoOo

Mad and Chad were taking Ancient Runes; Lydia was probably almost as knowledgeable as they but had not studied the subject since she reckoned it the easiest to learn more about on her own time and with lectures from Jade and their father.

"You'd have loved it" said Chad afterwards "We had that passage by Herpo the Foul to translate and a short burst of cuneiform that was no more nor less than a portion of a Lord Convolvumort speech; someone who sets these things has a sense of humour."

Lydia grinned.

"I wouldn't mind betting Lucius has at least a hand in it" she said "It IS one of his speciality subjects."

"Yeah; it isn't Albus" said Mad "He'd be as likely to have us translate the incantation of the fluorescent fart jinx into hieroglyphs."

Lydia grinned. She would not put that past Albus!

oOoOo

Lydia, Leo, Mad and Chad were taking Charms; Polly was not. The little house elf had an instinctive understanding of charms but the theory at high levels made her ears ache, she claimed.

The theory presented three longish essays; one on barrier charms, one on memory charms and one on the Fidelius Charm.

The last pleased all the Marauders who were very happy with that spell and knew it inside out, all its intricacies, its deficiencies and limitations and how it had been used in a slightly different way to tie Lily Evans Potter's blood kin to Harry Potter to create a form of it that excluded Voldemort and his creatures from approaching him while his place of abode was number four Privet Drive. That this was an extremely powerful twisting of the charm they all noted cheerfully, using the blood magic of the sacrifice of Harry's mother to start and fuel it so that blood of her blood continued to hold the charm even in muggle blood. Lydia and Chad got arithmantic. They returned in a good mood to write the essays that preceded this one and wrote about such things as the Imperturbable Charm, locking spells, repelling charms and invisibility charms as well as the use of an age line, anti-apparation charms, Colloportus, the door binding charm, and the fidelius charm itself. They all wrote far more than was necessary on a level that exceeded NEWT, save Leo whose theory was shakier than the others.

Memory charms were no great matter either, if a little less interesting; and if there were any marks dropped by the top students, they were probably dropped on this essay which remained for most of them within the scope of NEWT level work. This covered confundment and the Obliviate charm to make muggles forget; and as all of the marauders were far more interested in the aspect of varying will power and ability to notice through differing levels of sensitivity, leading to some muggles being missed by mass oblivion spells they wandered a little off the point.

As the practical required them to deprive a muggle of his memory of coming face to face with Buckbeak on the moor, they were able to demonstrate that they were in fact more familiar with the use than the theory, which was all the ministry was, after all, interested in.

The second part of the practical involved the Protean Charm; given half a dozen chocolate frog cards they had to demonstrate that they could ably change the information on each of the five subsidiaries using the exerting of their will on a master copy that they charmed. As Lydia said afterwards, a kind of more benevolent version of Morsmordre. Lydia, indeed, because it tickled her sense of humour, placed morsmordre on the arms of all the wizards of the subsidiary cards as well as changing statistics; just because. Madam Marchbanks sighed gently but let it go. She was used by now to Severus Snape's assorted children, wards and disciples and their slightly off-beat sense of humour. In this year of all years it was really almost inevitable.

oOoOo

They were all taking transfigurations; and so was ten-year-old Lilith Snape. There were three tough essay questions and a short question section; the long questions were 'Cite the exceptions to Gamp's law of Elemental Conjuration and choose one to illustrate further with reasons for it being an exception'; 'Discuss Waffling's laws of Assimilative Correlation and cite at least four examples, no more than two of each to be covered by the two types of Assimilative Correlation'; and 'discuss the dangers inherent in human transfiguration with reference too to animagi'. It was no big surprise to anyone; and it was Leo's turn to write too much, picking for his exception to Gamp's law 'food' and explaining earnestly about the lack of sustenance once the spell dissipated and the summoned item disappeared; and citing that the added expenditure of energy might produce a chicken that was given permanence and salad vegetables likewise permanenced and one might either make an omelette when the chicken laid eggs or wring its neck, but that utilising that amount of energy was a tricky business. Since using that amount of energy was post NEWT in scope Madam Marchbanks, marking his work, sighed in gentle amusement. Lydia, being awkward, picked sentient life as her exemplar, explaining that a sentient brain was too complex to be made by anyone because not only were the neural pathways too complex even in a newborn baby but that muggles had proved in their science that there were complexities that developed in the experiences of a heuristic brain from the moment it started operating, and as the Department of Mysteries was long years behind muggle science in understanding the way people were made it was unlikely that this law would be disproven at any foreseeable point in the future since summoning required the summoner to have the deepest understanding of what they summoned. Mad and Chad picked enchanted items and potions respectively; citing the similar reasons that magic could not make more magic, though there was nothing to stop you making and permanencing either an item to enchant or items for making a potion so long as they were not inherently magical; unicorn horn would fall into the exceptions. Polly wrote that the exception 'information' referred to information to be used by the caster, though a document with writing upon it known to the caster could be readily summoned. New knowledge could not because it circumvented the law of understanding what was to be summoned. Lilith wrote about food and it may be said got very technical on the rate of absorption of calories and the effect on the pancreas of the sudden removal of summoned food that had no permanency on it, and so dissipated; and the possible risk of diabetes necessitating high level medical tinkering to reverse any damage through extreme hypoglycaemia. She got decidedly post NEWT on assimilative correlation and almost incomprehensibly technical on using the power of twenty three, and its significance as the number of heritance-carrying parts of the human body, when writing about human transfiguration.

The short questions mostly covered specific spells and their effects.

The practical was standard form. All the marauders chose to summon complex bunches of flowers which they all – except Polly who was not as good at it as the others – placed permanency on, showing post NEWT virtuosity, and asked that they be taken to St Mungos's. As for their violins, Lydia's became a Japanese Bobtail just because nobody else had ever done it; Leo's was an Egyptian Mau; Mad went for an Himalayan; Chad for a Russian Blue; and Polly a Burmese. Lalita produced a tabby cat with the unmistakeable colouring and marking of a tiger. Lilith, having produced an occapi as her summoned living exemplar, turned her violin into a Cornish Rex cat because nobody had ever done that before either. She was also happy to show off her snake animagus form and turned hastily back when the cat growled and went for her.

"Well!" said Lilith happily "We know what to call YOU – obviously you're Rikki – after Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the mongoose!"

Madam Marchbanks though Lilith a delightful child!

oOoOo

Defence against the Dark Arts came next. The written covered protection spells and recognition of cursed items; and, as might be supposed in this anniversary year, the use of compulsions like the Imperious Curse and beyond, as used by Voldemort. The Marauders wrote cheerfully of code-word activated compulsions that might or might not circumvent the memory of the victim, and curses embedded to operate when certain conditions applied, the latter being beyond the scope of the course and a bit of a shock to poor Professor Tofty when he came to read it. There was a bonus question about Horcruces still, though as Lydia said afterwards everyone in the wizarding world ought to have some idea about that after the display.

The practical was still a duel and nobody had any trouble blocking the unforgivable curses. The Marauders decided to use their signature spell of turning the examiner to stone as introduced the previous year by Mei and Mortimer, and which was to be passed on to future marauders. Connie Hardbroom muttered to herself that she could see that she would need to brew plenty of Mandragora for the future.

oOoOo

Only Mad was taking Comparative Magic; and he was pleased enough that this year's long question was to compare and contrast the significance of naming in various cultures. He felt he really had to include the mention of Voldemort being referred to as 'you know who' and 'he who must not be named' because of the dark wizard's use of egophonic magic to hear his chosen name spoken; and wrote laconically that if he had been Voldemort he would have included the euphemisms in the magical name-finding magic too. He wrote extensively about the emphasis Finnish magic placed on names and how the use of the power of names in various cultures even filtered down to muggles who had naming ceremonies when a child reached a certain age since being nameless, or having a pet name only was supposed to protect them from being possessed; though of course, as he pointed out, any pet name may form part of a true name too, even as Voldemort became the true name of Tom Riddle because he chose it so. He had to write the short answer paper in a bit of a hurry, having enjoyed himself too much on the long paper, but it all seemed straightforward to him, with questions ranging from listing loa in the Voodoo tradition to naming all the shapeshifters he knew and their traditional ethnic background.

He discussed his answers with the others later.

"Riddle wasn't good enough to hold up more than one egophonic spell at one time" said Lydia "Otherwise he'd have put up the name 'Riddle' as well to catch Albus out. It's a complex little spell and you have to devote a portion of your consciousness to it; women find it easier I guess, because we ARE designed to multi-task. And remember too, he'd lost whole swathes of himself sticking them in horcruces. You pays your money and you takes your choice; and as Riddle was a silly little arse wipe he made wrong choices at every turn."

"I hadn't thought of that!" said Mad, much struck.

"How come powerful people could name him?" asked Polly.

"Because any spell can be blocked; including the egophonic spell" said Lydia "You have to think another name whilst saying out loud the one he can hear; although it's only by sound, so that the enchanted railway wheels could deafen him, the intent of thinking another name while you say his can kinda muffle it. If you know what you're doing and are familiar with egophonic magic. It's a form of occlumency."

"Neat" said Chad.

oOoOo

Chad was similarly alone of his group taking Geomancy.

He answered questions on the likely order of destinations by Knight Bus, filled in ley lines on a map with key nodal shift points and plotted the arrival of five different portkeys into one field so that there were no accidental combinations of more than one group of users with another whilst not taking up too much time. He used the magic of a pentagram and suggested a slight 'throw' to the precise arrival point by the embedding of an apparation attraction equation at the apices so that all the groups could arrive simultaneously for a more elegant result and eliminating the human error of them wandering into another group's precise arrival point or not dispersing or doing any of the stupid things people tend to do on a day trip. It may be said that the idea was promptly taken up by the Ministry of Magical Transport.

He collected a canary from Norwich, a dragon statuette from Llanstephan, a book from Reading and a kazoo from Cirencester.

oOoOo

Lydia and Polly were taking Herbology and entered the practical first, since there was significant chance of failing outright by incapacity in Herbology exams of this level.

They were confronted by the ironically named Monkey-Hugger tree. Its fruits just before ripeness were, Lydia recalled from the book 'Flesh-eating trees of the world' irresistible to monkeys and extremely attractive to all primates; which was why the seeds dried were used in a selection of love potions, including Amortentia, and in draughts to induce cheering, euphoria and other feel-good potions. Lydia knew too that they were added to 'Poor Man's Felix' the failed Felix Felicis, that could also be made more cheaply than the real thing by skimping on ingredients and time and which was used purely as a dangerous recreational drug.

The task was to collect as many fruit as they could. One did not climb the tree; it responded to that effort by closing up its branches in a woody embrace, imprisoning its victim to suck their blood to finish the ripening of the fruit, which would then explode spreading its seeds. A sudden fall would also cause the fruit to explode, and the seeds were then of no use to potioneers, their efficacy destroyed. Polly and Lydia had no trouble in casting simultaneously _diffindo _ and the hovering charm to lower the fruit to the ground gently, which task had to be accomplished with a degree of finesse and litheness since the tree tried to retaliate to losing its fruit by flailing about with its bloodsucking branches. It was no worse than the whomping willow. Both girls collected a large amount of fruit and Lydia reflected hopefully that they might have Monkey-hugger fruit and ice cream for tea. The fruit was as delicious to humans as the smell, and if a trifle inclined to cause the runs, well worth it for tasting like kiwi-fruit marinated in orange brandy.

The secondary task was to repot Mimbulus mimbletonia, and avoid being covered in stinksap; which would be detrimental to the appetite. Neither of the girls had any trouble with this, having both helped Ludmila Yaxley with hers.

The written exam rather pushed culinary expectations out of the head. There were questions on self-motile plants, soil type and how to improve it by fertiliser, spell or other method; when to prune a selection of plants and to what degree; and a section of recognition from photos of small portions of plants. Polly and Lydia both quite enjoyed it.

oOoOo

The Mad Marauders were now over all their exams and celebrated by imitating the mating call of the Demiguise. To add verisimilitude they cast invisibility spells on themselves to do so.

The castle echoed to the call

"Ooh-ooh-ooh ooorrraa-oorraa-ooorrraa oooh!"

The Pepperingye Marauders discovered their invisible elders by dint of using _aguamenti_ – forgetting that it was a NEWT level spell – aimed in the general direction and seeing where the drips formed since invisibility did NOT preclude one from getting wet.

The mating call of the Demiguise spluttered damply to a halt and the younger group were cuffed and praised in equal measure, since the Mad Marauders thought it an excellent bit of ingenuity and lateral thinking to reveal the invisible.

"And water repelling charms would have left a dry area" said Nathan happily.

"Well thought through!" said Chad "One might circumvent it by having a drying charm in place to work immediately on becoming wet I suppose, but to think of that before hand – well, I shouldn't have done."

"We'll use that in future mind" said Mad "And you lot might do so too."

The Pepperingye Marauders grinned. They intended to!

oOoOo

Lydia and Polly were delighted to find that the fruit of the Monkey-hugger had indeed found its way onto the supper table and fell to with delight. It was a rare treat and their fellows gave them a rousing cheer for making sure there had been enough of the rugger-ball sized fruit for the whole school. American Wendy was heard to compare it to a football but was told firmly that a football was spherical and this was like a ball for playing rugger, also known as rugby.

Being used to the whomping willow, neither girl had considered the test very challenging, and had stripped the whole tree between them, having no problem with manoeuvring the fruit out of the way of the flailing branches too. They HAD been told to get as many as they could, after all!

That the examiner had expected them to get five or six in the time allotted not the twenty three and twenty four was something of which they were blissfully unaware.

Albus Dumbledore called on the school to put their hands together for the two NEWT students who had provided them with a rare treat and the girls received an ovation.

oOoOo

Meanwhile, the Belle Marauders had been working hard on a combination of _avocado Kedavra_ and several skin-affecting curses, and turned up to breakfast on the morning of their first OWL – it was to be Potions – looking as though they had been dead several weeks.

This was adjudged pretty cool by sundry of the MSHG and so by the time they were ready to descend to the dungeon there were about half the class who had achieved the status of zombies and waited outside lustily singing 'There's a Zombie in my attic' rather than reciting Golapott and panicking as the Ravenclaws were.

Xanthia Fawcett promptly started hysterics again.

"Aw can it, Xanthia" said Sampta and her twin Sita – one of the zombies – with one voice. Sampta added "If you're that childish you can let nuts like Bella and co upset you, you're too young to take the exam and I'll tell Madam Hardbroom so."

This shut Xanthia up more effectively than glumbumble juice.

As Lilith was one of those being a zombie too this also ruffled the feathers of some of the more tender Ravenclaws; but Sampta determinedly shook the little girl's hand and wished her luck; which sentiment Lilith solemnly returned.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

The examiner may have looked upon a couple of dozen zombies with startled eyes but there was nothing in the rules about the skin afflictions of would-be potioneers so he just asked them to take their places quickly please and hoped they did not have anything catching.

Potions was not the top subject of the Belle Marauders though they were all very competent; Bella and Maud were in the habit of just scraping 'O' grades in class, though Mimi was their star. The rest expected 'E' if nothing went wrong; as did the American girl, Wendy Manning. She admired the quiet competence of the likes of Mimi and used the elf girl as an example in her reports for the use of her parents on how non humans fitted in to Hogwarts school. Her usual partner was Jack Clements, who wanted to be an Auror as Wendy did; and he too scored high in potions. But then, as he said, his hero was Severus Snape, pre-eminent potioneer in the world; who had been for just one term his house master.

oOoOo

The Belle Marauders had been holding an unofficial book on which potion or potions might be presented. A large consensus was that it was time for the Draught of Living Death to be re-used; the confusing and befuddlement draught and its counter were another popular choice, and poisons and antidotes were an also-ran just ahead of picking any three medical potions. Mimi had suggested it would be something entirely new.

The candidates were surprised to find their cauldrons already half full of something and various people grimaced.

They recognised it; and the ingredients laid out.

It was the strengthening solution at its half way stage, having matured over the weekend. This was a potion for which the timing was absolutely vital; if the Re'em blood, salamander blood and subsequent pomegranate juice went in at the wrong time, little but sludge would remain.

The class concentrated, and the Belle Marauders were glad that Bella had bullied them into becoming competent arithmancers; absently they allied that knowledge with their knowledge of chanting to count under their breaths to optimise the timing. Others around them were sweating over the solution too, and from the smell like burnt rubber, someone's solution had gone completely wrong. It was coming from the area where the Ravenclaws had congregated and there were impatient sounds in Damon Ogren's voice. Bella thought it couldn't happen to a better person; Damon having the habit of addressing one like a public meeting and talking about being methODical, as she pronounced it, taking a rise out of a selection of literary characters.

"It was supposed to be the strengthening solution, Ogren, not a strangling solution!" giggled Venilia as they left. "You almost murdered those of us near you – WHAT did you do with your salamander blood to turn it into dessicated inferii?"

Ogren stormed past her with a face like thunder.

"Tact. Or not" said Venilia's friend Avice. Venilia shrugged.

"The amount he's been lecturing everyone about how long we ought to revise he jolly well deserves it; would have it that the Belle Marauders are going to fail all their exams for not doing a stroke of work."

"We have so!" said Isabel "Only we're a bit more laid back than some people AND we use the revision guides the New Marauders wrote because they're cool. Besides, you have to be a total dork to muck up a potion that's half brewed already; all it took was careful counting."

This was not the most popular comment since several people in a number of houses were a trifle frazzled from the unexpected potion; having for the most part mugged up the draught of living death, the confusing and befuddlement draught and a selection of poisons.

That Lilith added that it had been a honey of an exam and she really could not see how anyone could fail to brew it perfectly did not help. And since Lilith had been one of about six people who had produced a potion with the proper reddish steam arising smelling of mustard this did not improve the mood of those who had not enjoyed it!

The written exam was reckoned better than the practical. There were questions on Golapott's first two laws; and the Malfoy lines of a number of potions had been printed and the candidates required to suggest antidotes. The long question was 'name a potion to duplicate one transfiguration, one charm and one other spell of your choice and explain in what respect they may surpass spells covering the same effect'. The obvious transfiguration was polyjuice potion; and most people chose a swelling or shrinking solution for an obvious charm. The Marauders went for the confusing and befuddlement potion to compare to confundment and wrote about all the potions that the major advantage of a potion was the ease of reducing, enhancing, extending and changing its effects by the use of extending solutions and the slight alteration of ingredients. They cited specifics. Lilith wandered into NEWT level answers by citing the elixir to induce euphoria as a superior substitute to cheering charms providing one remembered to add peppermint to eliminate undesirable side effects.

oOoOo

Transfigurations was next; and Lilith cheerfully told the fifth that last year's exam had been a breeze.

Sampta Patil actually had to restrain Xanthia Fawcett and told Lilith crossly that she had no tact.

"I thought it might help calm people down to know how easy it is" said Lilith.

"For you, possibly" said Sampta "And everyone else reflecting that you just took NEWT in the wretched subject. Last guinea pig I had still has a feathery tail."

"Then you were thinking too hard about the 'fowl' on the end of the guinea and hadn't let the naming magic flow with the 'pig' supplement" said Lilith "Ok if you take that too far you might get a curly pig's tail but I think that'd be marked higher than a feathery one because it's a stage further not a stage far enough."

"Thanks" said Sampta "I – I'll try that."

oOoOo

The written exam came first.

There was a long essay on _inanimatus conjuratus_ which none of the Belle Marauders had any real difficulty with, being familiar with Emeric Switch's theory. Definitions of switching spells, vanishing spells, Animagi and writing a shorter but still stiff essay on cross-species switches was tougher; and Sampta actually recalled Lilith holding forth on cross-species switches the previous year, and concentrated to drag up what she had said; and managed to recall the term Assimilative Correlation, a NEWT level term that did her no harm in being able to define its meaning and lifted her grade accordingly.

The practical this year involved conjuring a handkerchief, with credit for its complexity; only Mimi went beyond the pedestrian, producing a silk handkerchief emblazoned with the arms of Hogwarts school and the school motto in full colour; her fellows stuck to the more pedestrian application of lace, or in Drusillina's case a monogram. Bella's, predictably, was orange and black stripes, but she grumbled that it didn't count as she couldn't pull off a proper tiger pattern. They all switched bottles successfully, Mimi alone switching the contents; turned guinea fowls into guinea pigs; vanished a pile of dirt; and turned to the death watch beetle to be transfigured into a watch or small clock. Maud, who had a dolls' house at home, made her beetle into a miniature grandfather clock with perfect tiny workings, which made up for having almost spilt the bottles she was switching; Bella put tinkling music into hers, 'How You Turn My World You Precious Thing' from Labyrinth; Isabel had the phases of the moon on the face of hers; Drusillina made a wrist watch that was an elegant snake of cunningly contrived sections about the wrist and the snake's head opened to reveal the watch. Unfortunately the watch was erratic in its movements. Mimi made a watch of considerable complexity that opened to have workings on one side that was a beautifully chased silver watch that chimed the hours with Westminster chimes; and the other side was an orrery with moon phases shown too.

Sampta was just delighted that, for the first time her guinea pig had no feathers and neither indeed did it have a curly tail. She had done all that was required and actually hoped to scrape an 'O'!

oOoOo

Lilith was with them again for charms.

Xanthia Fawcett demanded to know why that horrid brat was allowed to sit exams with her elders and demoralise them by being a smart arse; and Filius Flitwick, supervising the settling of the class squeaked indignantly,

"If the child demoralises you Miss Fawcett, you should have prepared yourself better so that you were NOT outperformed by a child of ten!"

"Or you could just accept that Lilith is a genius and the rest of us aren't in her league and should just work on being in the league we're supposed to be" said Sampta with more truth than grammar.

"You'll be FINE Sammy" said Lilith "At least you don't ramble off into irrelevancies on cheering charms like some people not a million years removed from you used to."

Flitwick hid a grin. Hermione Granger could always be relied on to write FAR more than she needed when she was at Hogwarts; as could most Snapes. Only the Snapes tended to be relevant if far too advanced.

oOoOo

The written consisted of brief essays on water-affecting charms, locomotor charms and cheering charms; and Lilith wrote too much, quoted Adalbert Waffling, and wandered into NEWT level theory by citing _aguamenti_ amongst her water-affecting charms. She wrote that locomotor charms might be generalised such as _wingardium Leviosa_ or require a bit more naming theory as in such spells as _mobilocorpus_ or _mobiloarbus_ and wandered briefly into the interesting irrelevance of Finnish naming magic and assimilative locomotion by precision which was also a NEWT level concept. Lilith read all the books she could get her hands on and tended to forget which ones were supposedly above her scope if she had understood and enjoyed them.

Mimi was writing a lot as well, and the rest of the Belle Marauders contented themselves with their solid 'E' average knowledge. Sampta had decided to look upon Lilith as a mascot and her off-the-cuff comment about cheering charms that then came up in the exam as an omen and worked steadily and well.

The practical was fairly standardised.

Lilith made her eggcup cartwheel conventionally then added one or two other gymnastic moves; stilled and stacked her dancing teacups with a glance; shrank her dinner plate; and turned her rat, this year destined to be blue, into a delicate shade of powder blue on the belly running through royal to midnight blue along the spine with silver sparkles on the ends of each hair. She lifted her goblet of water, poured it out into a coalescent glob in mid air, moved the glass below it and let the fluid flow back in. She beamed at Mr Tofty.

Mimi was performing with similar aplomb if not quite as much showmanship for Madam Marchbanks, and was busy chuckling at her little sister's finesse. Her own rat shaded from nose to tail and she had merely demonstrated the control of the wine glass to pour, lifting one of the stilled teacups to pour into, which demonstrated – a fact of which Mimi was blissfully unaware – an unusual virtuosity to control two vessels at once.

The rest had not done anything out of the ordinary save a fetish for tidiness – Tofty remarked to Madam Marchbanks – amongst some of the young people where their cups were concerned. This was primarily the Marauders and their closer MSHG associates; which this year included four with the surname Malfoy, if one counted the Malfoy-Tobak twins Griselen and Genavka.

oOoOo

Lilith was with them as well for DADA. None of the MSHG expected to get low marks here; this was something they drilled for in their spare time as well.

The written covered definitions of dark creatures and dark arts; and questions on specific dark creatures and curses. The werewolf had been left out for the first time; but there were enough other dark creatures to cover. Nobody had any excuse for failing to define either dark creatures or dark wizards; not after the discussions over the darkness of the days of Voldemort. It was an easy exam for all the MSHG.

The practical followed fairly standard lines too.

None of the Belle Marauders had any trouble with their boggarts. They had not all been as personally involved with battles as such as Jade; and so for Maud, Isabel and Drusillina the figure of Prince Gerhardt was still the most feared creature, even though he was dead. Fears are not, after all, logical. They all cycled him through Bugs Bunny, Harvey and a small white domestic rabbit as Jade had done for real under their _ridikulus_ spell. Bella, who had gone first of her set, had seen the sneering, plausible Tom Riddle; and focused her not inconsiderable will. He was dead; did not even need to be made ridiculous; he WAS ridiculous and so was fearing him. She had seen all he had done to her former self; and survived it. There was nothing under the illusion. And then she was seeing the little wizened creature that was the boggart; and with a yelp of fear it fled from her. Tofty blinked; he had seen those who had learned to see boggarts for what they really were, but had never been privileged to see the revelation in action.

"Extremely creditable will power, Miss Black" he said.

"I'm DONE with having my head messed with, sir" said Bella quietly. "I've had the greatest ever known Dark Wizard tramp across my brain; I'm not hardly likely to have trouble with a ridiculous creature like this. I'm stronger than that."

"You are certainly a different person to the Bellatrix Black I examined in sundry OWLs back in the nineteen-sixties" said Tofty quietly "And may I congratulate you on the improvement."

"I've seen what he did to me – her – to make her like that" said Bella "And it strengthens my resolve to fight any dark magic that controls, subtly or otherwise, and steals souls by subverting them. I'll NEVER let anyone like Tom Riddle happen ever again if I have breath in my body to fight."

Tofty was much affected and had to blow his nose hard!

Mimi had been at the Battle of Hogwarts; and like her sisters chased the wee black mannikin back into his box; and apologised that she could not see anything fearful.

"Ah my dear; with a name like Snape, you'll be another one who has seen it all" said Tofty.

"Yes sir; and my little sister over there doing the same thing for Madam Marchbanks" said Mimi as Lilith hissed sibilantly at her boggart and changed into a snake to pursue it.

They found countering curses quite anticlimactic; it was easy, getting protective spells up before they were fully pronounced, as soon as enough had been said to make it obvious which counter to use. Or, in the case of Bella, Mimi and Lilith, reading it directly from the thoughts of their respective examiners before the spell was even cast, and having counters in place wordlessly, wandlessly, with utter relaxation. Tofty wondered with Bella if she had realised he had cast the spell even until the first jinx bounced; and by the time he had Mimi to examine he realised that they were just that good. Naturally all the Belle Marauders had corporeal Patronuses; Bella's, predictably, was a tiger; Drusillina's was a lion; Maud's was an owl – Fabian's animagus form – and Isabel's was a Raven, for Chad's house. Mimi's was a Snake.

Lilith countered jinxes in equally nonchalant style and a startled Madam Marchbanks dismissed her.

"Oh!" said Lilith nonplussed "Did I make some mistake that precludes me from any serious spell countering? Do I fail for hissing at my boggart? It was no harder than blocking any other second year!"

"My dear, you have performed every task set very creditably" said Madam Marchbanks "So unless you have a Patronus I have done with you; the jinxes were in no wise cast with less force than usual for this level. I did not ask about a Patronus since at your age…." She tailed off as Lilith looked at her indignantly.

"I have had a patronus pretty much since I started casting magic in a controlled way!" said Lilith "How else could I help fight off dementors at Prince Peak when Odessa were being so egregiously contumelious? Laughed some to death too" she added.

"Then perhaps you will show me, dear" said Madam Marchbanks reflecting that one should not be surprised that the daughter of Severus Snape and Krait Malfoy should use words like 'egregious' and 'contumelious' and expect to attack dementors before she even had a wand.

Lilith's patronus was a bit of a surprise.

"A BASILISK?" Madam Marchbanks rarely lost control of her voice; she came close this time.

"Salazar Slytherin set the basilisk to guard the castle from fey" said Lilith "And I'm his heir; it is meet that I should use his defences against the darkest of the fey, to wit, dementors. It works quite nicely on acromantulas too" she added candidly "'Cos there was several of them came out of the forest on a hunting party when me and my friends were breaking bounds and up to no good in order to jinx Uncle Lucius' sister Odilia during the celebrations and they backed off in SHORT order."

"I er, see" said Madam Marchbanks. "Well, I had considered retiring in the near future but I believe I may have to remain until you have finished your schooling; I look forward to more surprises than your family usually springs on me."

Lilith beamed.

"I plan to do every OWL and NEWT there is" she said. "I can too; I worked it out, 'cos I did three OWLs last year, I'm doing four OWLs and one NEWT this year and I can fit the rest in easy."

"Well I wish you every success my dear" said Madam Marchbanks "And I shall take a liberty from my affection for your mother" and kissed the little girl on the cheek.

"Please, Madam Marchbanks, will anyone say that means it was prejudicial?" asked Lilith.

"No my dear; this is why we have several examiners, all watching each other" said Madam Marchbanks.

Lilith promptly kissed her back and ran along happily, pausing, turning, and producing a bunch of severia blossoms from mid air to give to the elderly witch. Being Lilith they WERE permanenced.

oOoOo

Only Jack Clements and Mungo Fraser were taking the standard care of magical beasts exam – Mungo in fact was taking both care of beasts exams, not needing a time turner as with only two OWL students, Hagrid rescheduled lessons to evenings and tea, cakes and informal chats had been more the nature of their lessons. It may be said that both boys had probably absorbed far more thereby! Mungo was considering teaching, like his adoptive father, after perhaps a short while as a naturalist; and Jack thought that controlling undomesticated beasts might fall within the scope of an auror. His friend Wendy, on finding there was a choice, had NOT agreed. The rest of the class were taking Care of Domestic beasts and were glad to have a practical that involved nothing worse than starting to train a half grown white hound to find and pursue the scent of nogtail, and to curry a flying horse, although obviously not while it was flying. As one of the blast-ended pekes had been born albino, the Belle Marauders had already amused themselves by training him to scent nogtails – on the principle that pekes were more vicious than any hound – this was easy; and, as Bella said, proof that no experience was ever wasted, however silly it might have seemed at the time. It had kept her from seeking out her beloved Assim to have something tough and not especially rewarding to do in her spare time.

They answered a viva voce on how to recognise the features of crups and kneazles that needed disillusionment magic placed on them, or, in the case of crups, amputation of the forked tail. And the examiner was not sure if it was bad grammar or a bad attitude towards crups that bade Maud say that one should amputate the crup from the tail and use _evanesco _on it. He decided not to ask.

The written demanded a list of the different types of magical dog with their characteristics and uses in the wizarding world; and likewise of flying horses.

It may be said that when listing crup amongst the types of dog, the Belle Marauders wrote 'there is NO use for the crup' whereas for the blast-ended pekes they wrote ' the pekes give companionship and see reporters off the premises'.

There were sundry other questions on the various pets of the wizarding world and the Belle Marauders felt they had done well enough.

oOoOo

Bella, Isabel, Mimi and Drusillina were taking Ancient Runes; Maud claimed it made her head ache too much and Arithmancy was bad enough without more torture and if she'd wanted to be martyred she'd have gone to Dumrstrang.

Only Mimi enjoyed the class; the others battled grimly on for the purpose of enhancing their chanting.

Lilith was taking the subject too, and she and Mimi between them had ensured that the others had a good chance of passing whatever language got dropped on them. Bella managed Sanskrit well enough but hated ideograms and hieroglyphs with a passion.

They were fortunate to have a passage in Ogham and one in Ancient Greek as well as a hieroglyph passage to deal with; and some short questions on the significance of several disparate short passages within the context of their backgrounds. Lilith enjoyed herself and wandered into the realms of cultural significance to a level that at times fell outside the scope of NEWT let alone OWL. Mimi had the self discipline to be less irrelevant but she too quite enjoyed herself!

They held a post mortem after the exam and Lilith said cheerfully that she did not see why the others should not pass as they seemed to have covered all the basics; which, as Bella said, was all that might be hoped for.

"When we need it to chant we can mostly look it up" she said "And use what we've learned in the significance each language places on different things to pick the right one."

It was like those who took herbology from the point of view of a potioneer.

oOoOo

Arithmancy came next. Lilith already had an 'O' grade OWL in that under her belt and wished the older ones good luck.

"Thanks; we need it" said Maud.

The paper covered the best times to break given curses; and the best timing for named engaged couples to marry, given their birthdates as well as their names. With fictitious witches with names like 'Septima Hebdomad' a rather laboured double reference to the figure seven, Mimi at least realised that working in bases other than ten might be advantageous and did so. Drusillina and Isabel picked up on the 'Septima' without having remembered that hebdomad meant a set of seven, made significant by Madam Wenlock's researches; and missed entirely, which Mimi did NOT, that a witch named Hendeka Legges was a reference to the number eleven even if the surname was a rather obscure reference unless you knew a bit about bingo as well as recognising the Greek word for eleven; which as Mimi scolded afterwards, nobody doing Ancient Runes SHOULD have missed.

They all managed to write out the first fifteen terms of the Wenlock series without trouble however and to work out the simultaneous equation showing where two ley lines met. Mimi considered it a nice exam and Bella reckoned it could have been more excruciatingly beastly.

Lilith had done chanting the year before as well, and she and the other Striped Marauders decided to cheer up the Belle Marauders by chanting up tiger stripes on them to make them tiger brave for the exam; with which adornment the Belle Marauders awoke on the day of the chanting exam, having been targeted by the power of twenty-three factorial to aim at them and only them.

Bella approved; the others were resigned.

The Belle Marauders were joined by Ian Malfoy and the two would-be aurors for this exam, as well as the Malfoy-Tobak twins, Venilia and Avice, the Patil twins and Xanthia Fawcett who considered herself musical.

The theory paper came first, asking for a definition of chanting, and for the design of various short chants to cover given situations. There were questions on poem forms and an essay on how a poetic form might affect a chant. The Belle Marauders were well enough versed in arithmantic theory to write about syllabic significance, but only Mimi and Bella managed to get enthusiastic about the use of odes to break lovelorn curses or induce them and elegiac poetry to either remove or induce melancholy. Mimi managed to remember that elegies tended to be written in hexameter or pentameter which might prove arithmantically significant but that any poetical form should be abandoned as a dead loss if the metre was inappropriate arithmantically for the situation. Mimi also wrote irrelevantly that the word Ode derived from the ancient Greek word for sing and wandered briefly into the realms of Hebraic poetical forms – she had been discussing them with Lilith – and the tendency to reiterate an idea by repeating the concept in different words, known as synonymous parallelism, to build on a idea and add to it; or to use antithetical parallelism where the first line is strengthened by contrasting it with an opposite concept in the next line, which had excellent application for curse breaking, speaking of the nature of the curse in the first line and the power of breaking it in the second.

Lucius, marking this paper, promptly set to, with intent to research Hebraic poetry!

Xanthia Fawcett bragged about her knowledge of poetical forms that would surely set her well above the rest; and Mimi asked brightly if she had remembered that the two stanzas of four iambic pentameters of elegiac verse if not using couplets might affect the arithmantic balance.

Xanthia had not.

Mimi proceeded to depress her even more by asking if she had compared and contrasted synonymous parallelism and antithetical parallelism in Hebraic poetic forms and Xanthia burst into tears.

"Oh don't be wet!" said Mimi impatiently "Do you WANT to blow the practical this afternoon for crying your voice away?"

Xanthia had forgotten about that being a possibility too and hiccupped into sullen silence.

"Did you remember synthetic parallelism?" said Lilith brightly, eavesdropping.

"No, brat, I forgot what it was called and it seemed less significant anyhow" said Mimi. Lilith considered this.

"Yes; you're right" she said "Because building on an idea without repeating the theme precisely can be done in any poetic form."

oOoOo

They split into two groups for the practical, which was to the disappointment of the Marauders alphabetically determined. There were two groups of seven and eight, Bella, Maud and Drusillina in the first group with Venilia, Avice, Jack and Xanthia; and Isabel and Mimi in the second group with Wendy, the three Malfoys and the Patils.

It was an hour long chant after ten minutes preparation to define an exclusion line preventing the incursion of iguanas. Bella and Jack were the strong ones of the first group though neither Maud nor Drusillina were in any wise weak; and the rest well above average with the possible exception of Xanthia who tried so hard to make her voice 'appropriately' thrilling that she soon lost power. There were no weaknesses in the second group either though Mimi and Ian were demonstrably the strongest in both regularity and strength of voice throughout.

oOoOo

Bella, Maud and Mimi were taking Comparative Magic; and Assim Khan came to give Bella last minute instructions, or rather a last minute kissing.

"Oh Stripes, now I feel all weak at the knees as well as having my head in the clouds!" gasped Bella, pressing close to him. He kissed her gently on the forehead.

"My darling" he said in his purry growly voice "Whether you get an 'O' or whether you fail does not in any wise affect the deep love I have for you" he considered "I should be much disappointed I think if you dropped to a 'T'."

Bella giggled.

"Oh come off it Assim! With the amount we discuss stuff, COSMO wouldn't get a 'T' if he sat it!"

"Hrrr" said Assim. Cosmo was only five after all. Still, Bella should do well; she was keen as well as being good at seeing comparisons and contrasts between cultures. He wanted her to do well for her own sake; not to please him, though of course he was pleased she enjoyed his subject. Bella nestled at him.

"It'll be fine" she said firmly. "So long as I get a promise from you to kiss me like that afterwards too."

"I promise" he said softly. "And then it will only be two more years to wait to be together."

"One and a half" said Bella crisply "If we get together over my last Yule, if I'm pregnant, our cubs won't arrive until the following summer. And THAT's a more significant piece of Arithmancy than when some fool of a witch should wed her beau. The best time for any witch to get married is when Lucius arranges a jolly good do and preferably either well before or just after she's had her first baby so she isn't too fat for the wedding gown."

Assim laughed.

"Practical minx!" he said.

Bella purred and rubbed her head across him.

oOoOo

Mungo Fraser was amongst those taking comparative magic too, being that rarity, a manimagus and one of the types of shapeshifter considered in Assim Khan's classes. Allying this with his studies of magical animals to do a little research before settling to teaching was one of his half considered ambitions, specialising in his field of naturalism in shapeshifting beings and animals.

There were three essays from which to pick one and Bella half groaned to see one was 'Compare and contrast literal numerology with Finnish naming magic' having hoped to have shed Arithmancy; but she was knowledgeable about the Finnish tradition. She looked at the other two, 'Discuss the dual natures of Voodoo Loa with reference to traditional duality of nature of other theologies' and 'reference three different magical traditions with comparisons of the importance of written and spoken word.'

The last was definitely for someone who was good at ancient runes. Bella set to work on the second, using the nature of the Norse gods as her major comparison, the initially equivocal nature of Loki who might be best compared to Ghede/Baron Samedi and the capricious behaviour of the gods of Olympus as secondary comparisons. She enjoyed it and had to wind up in a hurry to have time for the short question section that was worth a third of the marks.

She did not need to be concerned; they were all short and easy questions regarding the way different cultures perceived the fey, shapeshifters, the use of name, music and even magic itself.

Bella came away happy.

"You did the first essay I suppose?" she asked Mimi. Mimi grinned.

"Yes I did" she said "Though they all looked fun. Which did you do?"

"The second. Maud?"

"I did the second too; left the others to arithmancers and those who like smelly old parchment with squiggles on" said Maud. Mimi grinned; she took no offence at Maud's teasing!

oOoOo

Bella duly got her kissing, in the detention room; and it may be said was duly well mussed as well. Assim changed before he got too carried away and washed her firmly, purring loudly. Bella submitted happily.

oOoOo

Only Maud and Drusillina were taking Divination; Drusillina was quite good at the subject and both girls found Madam Spikenard an interesting and stimulating teacher, but for Maud it was a bit of a soft option 'to compensate for being Bella'd into Arithmancy' as she put it.

In the written, Drusillina worked hard to interpret dreams and discuss the significance of astrological birth signs – something Madam Spikenard was sceptical about but had to teach anyway – and read facsimiles of tarot cards. Maud made up a load of rubbish when she could not remember the significance of anything that lay outside her interests. Maud had a lot of time for dreams, because Madam Spikenard had explained that dreams were frequently as much the way the brain interpreted subtle clues hidden to the conscious mind as true seeing; and that dreams of the future might be the brain interpreting a memory that had not happened yet since time was an odd commodity that was not fixed as place was. As Madam Spikenard's advice was to be guided by dreams or visions if you had a history of accuracy but not to rely on them, the Belle Marauders as a whole considered her sensible, and if you had some talent with tarot cards as Drusillina had on, as she put it, a good day with the wind behind her, it was worth following up.

It was still something of a fuzzy study for someone without talent; and Bella declared that the true seers got 'O', those who worked hard got 'E' and unless they twigged to you making it up everyone else got 'A'. In which belief she had divined the truth fairly accurately.

The practical involved using three divination methods of the candidates' own choice; Maud chose crystal ball, matchsticks and tea leaves, because at least you got a cup of tea out of it. She peered in the ball and murmured that though most seemed clear, trails of darkness seethed with menace; which was on the general principle that there were murky wizards out there anyway and all marauders believed in the principle of constant vigilance. She cast the matchsticks and being unable to see anything fell back on an old urban myth and declared that she could make out a cottage that meant that a hag was going to set up house near Hogwarts in the hopes of juicy first years to eat if anyone missed them which was unlikely; and drank her cup of tea and declared that the tealeaves had no discernable pattern and that probably meant that the drains were blocked.

Drusillina chose crystal ball, tarot cards and ink blot interpretation. Unable to manage a vision, she declared that they would come from below from the raths of the unseelie court, on general principle that the fey were a perennial trouble; and used her cards to foretell that the examiner was going to have a painful skin eruption. The ink blot, she declared, reinforced what the cards had said and suggested a cauldron to brew a boil-reducing potion.

They were glad to get THAT exam out of the way!

"After all" said Drusillina "I should think that even a real honest-to-goodness seer can't produce the shit to order."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Bella and Drusillina did enchanting to add to the depth of their group's skills; and both were more than competent without being high flyers.

The written exam was by way of being a reprise of one several years old, and appropriate to the desires of Tom Riddle to own the Hallows, or at least the wand; the story of the brothers Peverell and their three enchanted items to cheat death was printed for the benefit of any who had NOT read Beedle the Bard's stories in childhood; the items being the Elder Wand of Power, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak; and the question was to discuss which one was the most useful and why.

To the two marauders there was never any question but that the invisibility cloak was the best. Avoiding trouble, wrote Bella, was always better than leaping into it with both feet; and if you found you HAD to fight, the best way to defeat a dark wizard was to avoid him attacking you before you were ready to attack him, so hiding was remarkably sensible. People who had wands of puissance were likely to come to rely on them which was no good if they got broken; and who wanted to muck with those who had gone beyond the veil? Besides, she added, since the brother in the story had used the cloak to elude Death until such time as he was ready to embrace him as a friend, with or without a thestral called Binky, he had a sensible attitude that Death is not an enemy but something to be avoided until it is the right time.

The examiner was entirely confused by the reference to Binky and assumed – incorrectly – it was something to do with whichever retelling of the story this child had in her fairy tales. Terry Pratchett was not on the reading lists of most wizarding folk.

There were short questions too on appropriate wand woods, and a list of enchantments to be linked to appropriate quills; all fairly straightforward.

The practical called for them to enchant a candle, a book and a plate in a way they felt appropriate. Bella put an everlasting burning enchantment on the candle so it burned with magical, non consuming fire; made the book find the place you were last at on command; and the plate to hover on command at elbow height for an easy chair for easy consumption of biscuits. Drusillina enchanted her candle to light on command, made the book speak its position on command, and the plate to be self-cleaning.

oOoOo

None of them were taking Geomancy, though Mungo Fraser was following once again in David's footsteps with that; or as Bella said, earning a poking, dogging his pawprints. Of the Marauders only Isabel and Mimi had any exams left. Mimi had Herbology to go and Isabel was taking history. Ian Malfoy had opted for muggle studies and none of their set had been especially interested in metalwork, even the goblins; only a couple of Hufflepuffs were taking it, Tom Smith and Norman Whyteley, who were great friends despite being a near pure blood on the one hand and muggleborn on the other.

oOoOo

Herbology was something Mimi took for potioneering rather than for a love of plants; and she wrote methodically rather than with intense enjoyment on the difference between flitterbloom and devil's snare, the types of fertiliser best to use to maximise results for potioneering ingredients – she was very knowledgeable on this – and the types of trees used for wand woods and their preferences in terms of conditions. Mimi wrote that beeches needed culling in mixed woodland because of their tendency to block the light from all other trees, something she knew for the replanting of a dryad and her tree at Prince Peak when muggle foresters were doing just that. This was something she was otherwise weak on, since wand woods were not her primary interest by a long mark. Mimi rarely bothered with her own wand and cared less about the properties of wand woods.

The practical was along standard lines, repotting a fanged geranium – Mimi stupefied hers to stop it biting her – and gathering bubotuber pus. This was something she WAS good at because it was a practical application associated with potioneering. She thought she had done well in the practical to make up for a dodgy few answers on the theory; and could reasonably expect an 'E' over all. And then SHE was finished.

Which being so they all pointed and giggled at Isabel who pulled faces at them.

History was something she both enjoyed and was good at.

oOoOo

The history exam consisted of a long essay question to be chosen from three, and a paper of paragraph-length questions. The long questions set were 'the goblin rebellions were caused more by misunderstanding than wilful malice of either side; discuss with examples'; 'the Roman tradition of magic largely replaced Celtic traditions and is still our primary tradition; discuss'; and 'the rise of Voldemort could have been avoided; discuss."

Isabel chose the third; after all she had heard a sight more about the background of Voldemort than most people from other marauders. She wrote cheerfully and turned in a NEWT level answer for her knowledge and insights, pointing out each of the times at which Tom Marvolo Riddle could have been stopped on his path of death and destruction. Having enjoyed that she tackled the short questions with cheerful insouciance and great aplomb.

To celebrate finishing their OWLs, the Belle Marauders serenaded the sixth with some of their favourite songs, wearing bathing costumes, fireman's helmets and standing in buckets.

Asked why the strange get up, Bella tapped her nose significantly and said,

"If you need to ask, you're NOT in the know."

"Why ARE we got up like this?" giggled Isabel.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time" said Bella calmly "And it makes a change from being stripy and so keeps people off balance."

The other marauders accepted this as being as good a reason as any and swung cheerily into 'cauldron full of hot strong prep' to wind up their impromptu serenade.

oOoOo

Term was almost over; a few scratch quidditch games were played while the last exams were finished, and while the rest of the school struggled through their end of year exams. Various courting couples disappeared into the heather-strewn moors with adjurations from Hagrid to watch out for the adders.

"Adders don't give a deadly bite, do they?" said Jordan Christie to Stacey. She grinned.

"No, but I wager Lilith Snape does if we upset any snakes" she said.

"Good point" said Jordan "Let's be VERY careful where we settle down."

oOoOo

There was a lot of emotion in the school as the term wound down; because Professor Dumbledore was not returning the next year. It was not abnormal for some of the girls to shed tears if they were themselves leaving; but girls of all ages sobbed intermittently over losing their headmaster.

"Well it isn't like he died like he had to temporarily in the Voldemort years" said Lilith practically to Lycidice Attercop.

"No but we shan't see him ever again!" mourned Lycidice.

"Doxy droppings!" opined Lilith "If you think he'll be able to keep his nose out of school business you don't know Albus very well at all! I betcha he borrows Harry's invisibility cloak and sneaks in by one or other of the secret passages just for old times sake; oh all right, you won't SEE him if he's under an invisibility cloak but he won't be able to resist making himself known I reckon; and taking time out to explore for secret passages he hasn't found yet. In case us marauders have missed any. I wonder if we ought to build any just for him to find?" she added parenthetically.

"NICE!" said Kazrael "How do we do that?"

"I'll think of something" said Lilith airily.

"From anyone else, half pint, that would be a cliché" said Sextus. "Anyway, Attercop, Professor Dumbledore will be living just outside Hogsmeade; hardly going a world away. And will probably want to invite sundry of us brats to tea to help him keep in touch. We'll be third years next year and allowed into the village."

That cheered Lycidice somewhat!

It did NOT prevent the head from being approached by various emotional girls and hugged; and having his hand shaken by tongue-tied boys. Dumbledore was much taken aback; but firmed his will to leave after having decided it was a good idea, whatever emotions welled up at such expressions of affection.

Lydia sighed and collected up all of those who wanted to express their feelings for the head, got Chad and Mad to re-write the song 'thank you very much' as 'Thank you very much for being our headmaster' and drilled the emotional ones and any other volunteers ruthlessly. This meant that she firmly volunteered the more musical, like Lilith, and Heath Barbary and Phil Graves, and dragooned them into helping the others hold their parts so it could be sung in four part harmony. And after the final feast, she motioned the whole school to rise and those who were prepared to sing, sang.

Dumbledore had suspiciously bright eyes.

"Well bless my soul!" he said "Thank YOU very much for being such good pupils; I shall miss you all, as I miss every class that leaves; and I hope that you will keep me posted about how you do in life. I have to say, when the Team faked my death for me, I took a certain malicious enjoyment in the often rather spurious epitaphs many of the wizarding world left for me; it's harder to walk away than to be pushed, I have to say, because I have had marvellous fun being headmaster at Hogwarts – with a few less enjoyable times, but such times pale into insignificance next to the joy of being with hard-working, fun-loving pupils. It seems almost mundane to turn to the usual end of term business; but I am sure that those of you who have earned shields would like them, hmm?" there were cheers and the Headmaster resumed, "As we knew some time ago, Ravenclaw take the Quidditch Shield; a well-deserved win, and well played." Chad, as head of Ravenclaw games collected the shield, grinning, and wondering if the team would do as well without him and Mad as formidable point scorers! Dumbledore went on, "The House Shield has to realistically be shared amongst every House; this year we could not split the house points, because everyone pulled their weight to make this anniversary year go with a swing, and to be kind to an old man in his last teaching year" he twinkled at them "So for the first time ever, the shield will not be awarded as such; but I have had made four individual shields to commemorate this momentous occasion. Since the time of Voldemort, the four houses have co-operated more and more; and though members of one house may have been caught a little more than members of the others, it is to the credit of both caught and catchers that it was not too public a display of a er, 'gotcha'. It is, I think, just and fitting that this year of all of them should see a culmination of your efforts; and, Lydia, I have a small commemorative shield for you, as it happened under your leadership as Head Girl."

Lydia received her shield as well as Gryffindor's, while the other House Heads took theirs. Albus had fiddled the results of course; if there had been a difference of only ten or twenty points to make things even well worth doing to encourage the whole school; and her look told him that she approved. It was HIS leaving gift to the school to give them something to strive towards.

"The school has been lifted to try to make your last year memorable but in a good way, sir" she said being glad that he had also not seen the sword duel with commemorative paper knives modelled after Gryffindor's sword that she had broken up between Kettleburn and Ogden.

"How delightful all you children are!" said Dumbledore "Really I SHALL miss the lot of you! However, on to the final shield; the Marauders' Shield. I should have liked, in a way, to have awarded it to the whole school; but on due consideration I have decided this year to award it to the first teams of Ravenclaw and Slytherin Houses jointly, for having put on a magnificent display of flying for the visitors, and for your overall display of excellent sportsmanship that is an example to anyone who loves the beautiful game. I had so many comments from spectators about the excellent conduct of my players, and I'm sure many of you will be receiving letters from the scouts of a number of teams in the holidays. I DID warn them that many of you consider you have destinies outside quidditch; but you may consider the offers a compliment nonetheless" he beamed. "As I understand than several of you also told scouts with utter fairness that there were good players on the other two teams and gave names I am doubly proud of your sportsmanship. I believe that concludes our business for the term?" as people cheered.

"Not quite sir" said Lydia, coming forward with a package. "We all put together our efforts to make you this, sir; we thought you'd like it more than a clock. And the upper sixth rather insisted that I read to you my little parody on Tolkein too; so here it is, a poem to a Gryffindor" she recited clearly.

"_Once there was a Dumbledore_

_A hummerhorn, a honey bee_

_Who ventured forth with silver sword_

_For acts of mindless gallantry_

_Jocosely he bumbled on_

_In humour and in gelasty_

_To bring unto the humourless_

_Their doom of less hilarity_

_How carefully and tenderly_

_He cared for Weevils busily_

_And then he built a labyrinth _

_To test their ingenuity."_

"Bless my soul!" said Dumbledore again "How very appropriate; a very clever parody on 'Errantry' my dear! Thank you very much; and my thanks to the sixth for suggesting it! And let me now unwrap my present; I love presents!" he pulled off the paper with as much glee as any small child, and opened the beautifully bound book, embossed with the arms of Hogwarts, and folded out the photo from which all the school jumped up and down and waved, grinning at him. Then he turned to pages to see the hundreds of poems, stories, drawings and thoughts of his pupils. And he was crying. "My dears!" he said "My dears! Why – this is the best gift I have ever had!"

And then they were giving him an ovation, cheering, singing 'for he's a jolly good fellow' and surging forward to shake his hand or kiss him, all surrounding him.

"Well I think you should all sit down again" said Dumbledore, his voice mostly under control again "Because I have a surprise for you too!"

The house elves brought in the biggest cake that anyone had ever seen, and a wizarding cracker for everyone in the school, each with their name upon it; and Lydia suspected that Albus had overseen choosing the gift for each child to be appropriate. And when the poorer children started finding the little luxury gifts in their crackers they would never expect to own she was sure of it. Albus Dumbledore was a great man.

Lydia had no doubts that David Fraser would make a good headmaster; possibly a great one; but she was glad that he would be starting without any of the blood group who had known him as a child, as she remembered him from those dark days. For Lilith he had always been a grown up. It was the end of an era; and Lydia was quite shocked with herself that she too was crying as hard as anyone.

It was foolishness. She would be leaving school for a bright future, marrying Viktor Krumm and teaching at Prince Peak; and life would be golden.

But then emotion was never logical. And half the tears were happy tears that she had had such a wonderful seven years of school under so great a man as Albus!

And on the morrow, drained of emotion and almost equivocal, for many of them, sobered and elated both at once, they were mounting the train for the start of either a new life as adults or the long summer holidays!

**The End for now**

4


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